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Subject: STG knows his crap.....
I really agree with this weeks column. Mike (Johnston) and I, (Jordan) Armstrong really concentrate on pacing. A song with great pacing and ok funniness is much better than one that's a really funny topic with bad pacing. When I vote... the overall rating is probably 7/10 of my "overall vote" and I vote for songs often. Mike and I write most of our stuff individually... but we always run them by each other for pacing. PACING PACING PACING. Authors new and young alike... STG is successful and preaches it, I'd like to think we are pretty successful even though we've only been here a little while and we preach pacing. If you want a good song... line up those syllables!
p.s. If you line up the right syllable STRESSING like how the original song is, it makes it even better. try this after you think you've mastered the first pacing part.
p.s.s. Most of all.... make the song your own. If you can't laugh at it, nobody will.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
I agree, pacing is very important. William Tong is another artist who is really good at that, especially making his songs sound very similar to the original. It seems the votes on a lot of my songs are higher for pacing and lower for funniness, but I guess that's a good sign. Now I just gotta work on funniness ;)
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Lebeiw, your songs are hilarious! Trust me. :)
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
STG is good at pacing, but I think he needs a little work on lining up the stressed syllables. Thats one thing I always make sure I do. I don't do it 100% of the time, but I sure try. My parody writing article talks about it, it should be up either next or after the next one.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
As I believe Bill explains in his article (no time to look it up, and I'm too tired to read), he does try to line up his stressed syllables as close to the original as possible. And when working to someone else's tune, that kinda stuff needs commending. It's much easier to write words to a tune that you've invented, in a sense, yet, as a songwriter, I must admit that in others this is not the case...
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
DJ,
You do have a good point, I try and stress the syllables but it doesn't work at times, I should try more on that
thanx for the tip
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
aka Wolveroses
I disagree with everyone that posted above me.
It doesn't matter what you think that your parody is funny or not. And it does not matter if your syllables are there. And yes am speaking from experience. It all depends on on you sing your parody with the original. Let me point out a few:
My parody "Undependent Women", it's a parody to Destiny's Child "Independent Women." I thought this was hilarious and the pacing is so there on target. In fact, I got the instrumental and did my own version of my song which turned out perfect, except for my voice that is. Once again, it was voted low on everything.
Another, "Portchop Hills", parody to D-12 "Purple Pills". Again, I thought it was funny and the pacing is there. Someone gave me a 1.0 all around. Hell, I even rap my lyrics to the original and it came out perfect. The meaning behind this song is about a placee my friends and I use to hang out as children. There were hills and all that we jumped all the time and the place was called Portchop.
Another, "Label Me" parody to Eminem "Soldier". The pacing is so there again. I also can rap my lyrics to the originals. This wasn't meant to funny, it was more on the personnal note. But yet, I seem to have scored high on the funniness. I don't get it.
That's just a few I might thought I would point out, and yes there's more. Who cares about the syllables, people don't sit there and count it with the original. It just has to flow along with the original song.
And yes just like we think different things are funny, we think the same thing about pacing. An example of this would be this right here, one currently working on:
Original By Eminem "Cleanin' Out My Closet"
Have you ever been hated or discriminated against? (14)
I have; I've been protested and demonstrated against (14)
Parody By Wolveroses "Letting Out Frustrations"
Have you ever had a boss that you never did like (13)
I do; I have a boss that no one does like (11)
The number after is the syllables of each line and see they don't match, but yet it flows along with the original, well to me it does. This is gonna be another personnal parody.
Back picking on the parodies.
Kenny's "Cleaning Out My Office" was good all around. It was hilarious and the pacing was excellent, I could say it with the original. That parody deserves 5.0 and no lower on all three.
As for William Tongs, I really don't care too much for his. Only because he's a political writer. That's just not me.
And btw, writers, write for yourself not for others.
I got more to say, but I'll leave at that for now. Hmmmmmm, maybe I should try to write an article.......................................... 2B Continued.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
I agree with Wolveroses.
Some people will rewrite matching the syllables and the pacing of the original song they have parodied. But some use the tune (and in rap parodies) the beat. Wierd Al's Amish Paradise doesn't use the same syllable stresses (or whatever they are called) but keeps the beat. If you get what I mean.
Plus: I've listened to Wolveroses Independant Women parody - and I thought it was good. (Not sure if it was the actual content of the song - but the way he perfomred it...hmm...)
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
i guess maybe i'm just speaking from a voter's perspctive. (and i vote for ALOT of songs) I know the songs i'm voting for... so maybe the rap stuff is over my head because i'm a huge country fan, and i don't vote for rap songs anyway. I play the song on Kazaa as I sing along to decide on votes... and if pacing is bad... the overall rating isn't gonna be too good. whether or not someone finds it funny or not is very personal, and some people are just going to give you all 1s because they are just asses. people have started doing it to our best songs... i guess just to know them down?? whatever. i'm not complaining about it, it's just that i'm trying to make a point that IT HAPPENS and you can't chalk it up to your writing, chalk it up to the lack of cranial capacity of the voter. the best songs on the list have scores under 4. Just remember... Rush Limbaugh/ George Bush/ Al Gore/ me/ u/ we all have one thing in common..... 1 VOTE! so sometimes the numbnuts of the world can bring it down. welcome to democracy.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Wolveroses is right. Pacing is important but not as important as some of you are making it out to be (especially in the rap parodies). Make sure you can sing the words along with the tune, but if it's a little short or a little long don't sweat it.
On the other hand, what is really, really important is the rhyme pattern. I can't stress this enough. If the original has lines that rhyme like abab, yours had better rhyme like that too. I don't care if it goes "i walk and talk and rock the block," you've got to find something that fits the pattern. They did it; so can you. "I thought I bought a lot of pot," or something like that.
Another thing I'd like to point out is that if at all possible, don't twist a sentence around to make it rhyme (AKA: The No Yoda Rule). Turning "I came to the store" into "To the store I came" just makes things really awkward; sometimes there's nothing else that fits but try and find something that works.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Quoting:
STG is good at pacing, but I think he needs a little work on lining up the stressed syllables. Thats one thing I always make sure I do. I don't do it 100% of the time, but I sure try. My parody writing article talks about it, it should be up either next or after the next one.
End Quote
yours will be up next week..
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Quoting:
i guess maybe i'm just speaking from a voter's perspctive. (and i vote for ALOT of songs) I know the songs i'm voting for... so maybe the rap stuff is over my head because i'm a huge country fan, and i don't vote for rap songs anyway.
End Quote
ok just for you man and the more people just like you, I actually stoop down to your level and made a country parody. i decided to make a countrty song that's known pretty well so I did billy ray cyrus "Achy Breaky Heart" and my parody is called "I Broke My Sons Toy". btw, my one and only country parody that yous will ever see, it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too easy, I need a challenge. that's probaly why I make more rap than ever.
btw, no one came back on what they said or what I have to say huh? LMFAO!
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Everything is easy compared to rap parodies. ¨tin and boots¨ took me a month start through finish, ¨passover¨ took over a year and ¨sick of himm¨ took 4 days and i worked a couple of hours on it each day. My cleaning out the closet parody which should be coming up soon took a few days as well. and i also have a few works in progress that i worked on for a while and the pacing is still way off. Nothing else takes anywhere near as long i wrote a parody of cake´s ¨never there¨ and ¨crawling¨within an hour this morning
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
stoop to my level? Well... that really makes me feel good. At least my parodies are funny. "Don't break my son's toy" is god-awful. pacing is terrible... your rhyme scheme is off and it's not funny at all. At least our country parodies work. I agree it may be harder to write a rap parody than to write a country one but mike and i could both do better at a rap parody than you just did with that horrible thing.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
and PS... we don't write JUST country... there's a lot of 80s, some 70s, some mid to late 90s. we're diverse too ya know.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Wolveroses,
Did your son write that parody?? Country isn't all that easy to do, as evidence by the voting results. I didn't even vote for the song, because i didn't think it deserved a 1,1,1. I'm sure you'll do something mature like give all of my songs 1,1,1 ratings, but that doesn't bother me, cuz when I see the vote totals mysteriously dip from 4.8, 4.8, 4.8 to 4.5, 4.5, 4.5 I'll know the cause. Before you go ripping into someone else's work, like William Tong's, be sure that you can back it up with something... Peace
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Quoting:
stoop to my level? Well... that really makes me feel good. At least my parodies are funny. "Don't break my son's toy" is god-awful. pacing is terrible... your rhyme scheme is off and it's not funny at all. At least our country parodies work. I agree it may be harder to write a rap parody than to write a country one but mike and i could both do better at a rap parody than you just did with that horrible thing.
End Quote
ah see, there's a perfect example on what we think different things are funny. I thought it was funny as for the story line. so it really doesn't mater if you think it's funny or not, it's all on the person. pacing is terrible? I matched the syllables. rhyme scheme? there was one for the song? where? I read the original lyrics and that didn't even make sense. to me mine made more sense than the original. once again, it's all on the person. yea you make a rap parody and see how long it takes you. that parody only too me like a minute or so.
Quoting:
Wolveroses,
Did your son write that parody?? Country isn't all that easy to do, as evidence by the voting results. I didn't even vote for the song, because i didn't think it deserved a 1,1,1. I'm sure you'll do something mature like give all of my songs 1,1,1 ratings, but that doesn't bother me, cuz when I see the vote totals mysteriously dip from 4.8, 4.8, 4.8 to 4.5, 4.5, 4.5 I'll know the cause. Before you go ripping into someone else's work, like William Tong's, be sure that you can back it up with something... Peace
End Quote
No my son didn't write that parody. I did it just for the hell of it. And no I wouldn't give your parodies a 1,1,1 just for no reason. I don't read the parody unless I know the actual song. And btw, I wasn't ripping into Tongs parodies, I was just simply stating that he writes for politics which doesn't move me at all. Besides, he mostly does stuff that I really don't know so therefore I cannot vote for him. He's just not my style
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
wrote one=) 1 hour and 17 minutes was the time it took. A little tribute to you my friend to the tune of eminem's "Without Me"
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
and it's obvious that parody only took a minute or so, no need to state the obvious.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
I really hate to jump into what is a needless and much too bitter argument, but there was a really obvious rhyme pattern to the original song.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Sorry to brge in...but to defend rap parodies:
I prefer to paordy rap songs as I'm used to them (and I like the way they are performed) and they can bring up to excellent comic timing and showcase some excellent wit. Examples are mine and Wolveroses "Ain't Nuthin' but a P Thang" parody, but the best rap parody has to be "Cleanin' out my Office".
It takes me ages to write parodies - I spend time on them, although some do take me a few minutes. But they are a challenged. (My DMX 'Who We Be' Parody took forever...and I still think it's undeserved...)
There was a point in there somewhere...
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Quoting:
wrote one=) 1 hour and 17 minutes was the time it took. A little tribute to you my friend to the tune of eminem's "Without Me"
End Quote
if this parody is posted and it's specifically about a parody author, it won't get posted.. it gets out of hand way too quickly if I allow it
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
is there a reason this thread is getting a little out of hand? Everyone has their own techniques for writing parodies, and it's no reason for anyone to get nasty about it
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Quoting:
if this parody is posted and it's specifically about a parody author, it won't get posted.. it gets out of hand way too quickly if I allow it
End Quote
You can post parodies about authors if you're not putting down the authors, though, right?
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Haven't there been some parodies directed towards authors submitted??
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
i'm gonna submit it, and if deemed inappropriate I'm not going to argue or anything. I just seem to recall reading some that were no worse than this, and i'm just stating facts.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Quoting:
You can post parodies about authors if you're not putting down the authors, though, right?
End Quote
yeah, I suppose.. though even that has led to trouble in the past..
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Quoting:
i'm gonna submit it, and if deemed inappropriate I'm not going to argue or anything. I just seem to recall reading some that were no worse than this, and i'm just stating facts.
End Quote
I've let some go through by accident, and they didn't get removed in time for the author that was mentioned to respond, so I've left them both up to be fair..
I've debated about wether I should relax the rule, and several people have asked for a section where they could do battle in parody format.
I personally think it tends to go against the intention of the site (making fun of music, not each other). I'm also pretty sure it just bores people who aren't really following the site closely enough to care about the individuals mentioned.. and it leads to hurt feelings, etc.. so I haven't really felt it was worth the effort on my part to either create a seperate section or deal with a ton of additional entries to review each day..
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
when I do parodies that have certain insults in them, I choose artists who won't respond.
XXX- he is my off-line friend
Len- he is my brother
Malcolm Higgins- He doesn't care
Big Al- He doesn't know
those are my main targets, lol
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Quoting:
I've let some go through by accident, and they didn't get removed in time for the author that was mentioned to respond, so I've left them both up to be fair..
I've debated about wether I should relax the rule, and several people have asked for a section where they could do battle in parody format.
I personally think it tends to go against the intention of the site (making fun of music, not each other). I'm also pretty sure it just bores people who aren't really following the site closely enough to care about the individuals mentioned.. and it leads to hurt feelings, etc.. so I haven't really felt it was worth the effort on my part to either create a seperate section or deal with a ton of additional entries to review each day..
End Quote
I know I was one of the people who asked something about the battle thing. I don't see no problem with it, it just give that other person attention and shows that one person is reading or paying to the person who they are dissing. My name was mentioned in a few songs, won't say the name, I seen that said yeah ok let me come back with something small also. It's just like freestyle battling, no hurt feelings and may the best person win.
I did mention a few names with me song "Parody" a remake to SPM "Streets On Beats". that mostly was a freestyle with it and I just named a few artists on the site that contribute to it. Like the last line in the song says "We Make The Parodies" instead of "We Put The Streets On Beats". Another one was Dayton Family "Ghetto" remake to "Parody", where I mention Tong saying "I was taught the tricks and the trade by Tongs parody ways". Basically when he wrote that article. I know I did another but cannot think of it now.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
I have a question Chuck, I did a little song called "Rocker's Anthem" parody to Kid Rock's "Trucker Anthem". I did however diss him in a line or so just to say how I feel about his music now. For example I said:
Kid Rock, thought you were the man / now you've lost a fan / what happened god damn
it goes on from there. I do still like his music, but I just had to say something about it. would that be okay to submit?
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Oh, making fun of the bands themselves shouldn't be a problem.
If it were, I wouldn't even have had enough parodies to make it on the parody author page.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
man physics lab sucks... lord i hate being up this late :-/
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
oh and to show you guys how a country parody is done... check out the new submission "Kar'ol Mailman Malone" dl the original "Private Andrew Malone" and see how hard country parodies that must maintain some form of a story can be to write. this one took mike and me four solid days of brainstorming and writing. It can be difficult to. Plus this gets us in the 25 club! now maybe we can get some recognition! WOOHOO!
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Quoting:
I have a question Chuck, I did a little song called "Rocker's Anthem" parody to Kid Rock's "Trucker Anthem". I did however diss him in a line or so just to say how I feel about his music now. For example I said:
Kid Rock, thought you were the man / now you've lost a fan / what happened god damn
it goes on from there. I do still like his music, but I just had to say something about it. would that be okay to submit?
End Quote
yeah that's fine... I doubt Kid Rock will be submitting parodies here..
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
Good stuff Loosekanen, I've just started getting into country music (thanks to my wife, and Cledus T. Judd). Hopefully mine will get better over time (I thought Poop Scoop was okay, but the rest of the country stuff I've written were a struggle).
BTW, Like My Stocks was excellent!
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
thanks man, guess the rest of you aren't too humored by blundering white boy centers. Oh well, I still think mailman malone is probably in the top five of all the dozens of parodies we've ever written. I still laugh out loud when I read it.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
by the way... i voted poop scoop a while ago. i liked it alot. and i can't take credit for like my stocks.... that was ALL mike.
Subject: Re: STG knows his crap.....
I loved "Poop Scoop", the thing with country parodies, in my opinion, since they have simple rhyme schemes, is that there need to be creative rhymes. Also, if you can accentuate when there is meant to be an accentuation, it is key. But the overlying key is the rhyming... if you can't keep up with the ryhme scheme of a country song, it is going to get terrible voting results... And thanks for the compliment on "Like My Stocks." Not the best one I've done, but it's up there.