I am interested in parodies involving writing words to classical pieces. If you have done one, please post it here. I have included the few that I have written or know about on the site. I feel this is a relatively untapped source of fun. (Remember that "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" is exactly what I'm talking about here.) A cursory search turned up these:

http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/petertchaikovsky0.shtml

http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/wamozart0.shtml

http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/ludwigvanbeethoven0.shtml

http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/schillerbeethoven1.shtml

http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/schillerbeethoven0.shtml

http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/johannsebastianbach0.shtml

http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/georgfriedrichhndel0.shtml

http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/handel1.shtml

This experiment emerged a few years back while trying to come up with something for a retailer's employee safety campaign.  Not singable at a traditional tempo, we ended up going a completely different way.

To the first movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.


NO MORE THAN THREE!
NO MORE THAN THREE!

You ask of me,
"Why should it be
No more than three?"

‘Cause more than three
Could surely be
A travesty!

No more than three
(No more than three)
No more than three
(No more than three)

ONLY THREE CARTONS HIGH!

Three cartons high....

Three cartons high? Why just three high?
I’ll tell you why three cartons high:

‘Cause four or five would be contrived --
(Who knows what fate would then arrive?)

And six or seven would pile to Heaven;
A box might drop and go ‘ker-plop’
There might be injury (and surgery!)
And lots of mess and great distress

And things would go awry
(You must believe, I tell no lie!)

So please hold back from making stacks
That get too high (You can see why!)

Just keep ‘em small, and not too tall
(You wouldn’t want that stack to fall!)

Oh, not at all!
No!

Don’t want that stack to fall...

If we’re careful how we stack now
We won’t have to hurt our backs now
Safety hazards we’ll attack now

Injuries you can avoid, then
You won’t have to be annoyed when
You can see a box you need, but
Someone’s acted recklessly
Because they’ve piled it way too high!

So in addition to avoiding mess
You’ll find that you’re annoyed much less
When three high is the rule

And so you see, we think you’ll find
When boxes all are more accessible,
You’ll be so much less stressable
And customers will see…

A better you!
(A better you!, A better you!, A better you!)

A cheery you!
(A cheery you!, A cheery you!, A cheery you!)

A happy you!

A smiling you!

A FRIENDLY YOU!

Leo, that's really clever --- you should post it!

I have been, and I still am, working on a long-range project to write parody lyrics for Johann Strauss's "Blue Danube".

Johnny D

The closest I can come is:

http://www.amiright.com/parody/misc/verdirigoletto0.shtml

a parody of "La Donna e Mobile" from Verdi's Rigoletto.. though I have written the occasional Schubert part-parody in the past, and have considered doing the Minute Waltz, too.  Would be kind of fun :)

Leo, by all means post this. Fix the "ONLY THREE CARTONS HIGH" because as the Duke said of Mozart: "Too many notes"

Funny you should bring this up Rick.  I have recently gotten an urge to parody a popular aria from The Barber of Seville---everyone who has seen their fair share of Tom & Jerry cartoons probably would understand which aria I am talking about. Problem is, the only thing I can think of as a topic thus far is something about Gigolos ("Gigolo! Gigolo! Gigolo!) or Pokemon characters ("Jiggly puff! Jiggly-Puff! Jiggly Puff!") :D

Any suggestions, or volunteers for a collaborative effort, would be appreciated and invited. 8)

I just submitted "Xanadu", my parody of "The Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss.

I used Samuel Coleridge's opium-inspired poem "Kubla Khan" as the basis for the parody's lyrics.

"Kubla Khan" was first published in 1816 with the sub-heading: "Or, a Vision in a Dream. A Fragment." Coleridge's own notes say that "Kubla Khan" was composed in 1797, while he was under the influence of opium, or, as Coleridge himself put it, "In consequence of a slight indisposition, an anodyne had been prescribed, from the effects of which he fell asleep in his chair...The Author continued for about three hours in a profound sleep, at least of the external senses, during which time he has the most vivid confidence, that he could not have composed less than from two to three hundred lines; if that indeed can be called composition in which all the images rose up before him as things with a parallel production of the correspondent expressions, without any sensation or consciousness of effort. On awakening he appeared to himself to have a distinct recollection of the whole, and taking his pen, ink, and paper, instantly and eagerly wrote down the lines that are here preserved."

The irredeemable PDQ Bach (as discovered by Professor Peter Schickele ;)) had written a half-act opera based on Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusick called "A Little Nightmare Music" involving a fateful but fictitiious meeting between W.A. Mozart, Anonio Salieiri, a mysterious playwirght named Peter Shlaffer, and PDQ Bach himself. Silly fun. :D

The irredeemable PDQ Bach (as discovered by Professor Peter Schickele ;)) had written a half-act opera based on Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusick called "A Little Nightmare Music" involving a fateful but fictitiious meeting between W.A. Mozart, Anonio Salieiri, a mysterious playwirght named Peter Shlaffer, and PDQ Bach himself. Silly fun. :D


I love Peter Schickele!

When I was a student at M.I.T. in the late 70's, I attended a P.D.Q. Bach concert at Kresge Auditorium.  It was hysterical ... but the two things I remember most vividly were Peter's entrance --- running yelling down the aisle and belly-flopping onto the stage --- and his entrance towards the end of what I think might have been "Hansel And Gretel And Ted And Alice", as the "quaint old innkeeper", when he comes in singing,

"I am the quaint old innkeeper, do you remember me?
Has anything been happening since I stepped out to pee?"

Schickele is a genius. I bring him up because he is assuredly the king of Classical Music Parody...I highly recommend the first 4 albums, packaged as "The Dreaded PDQ Bach Anthology".

Anyway, here is the aria I was thinking of, "Largo al factotum" from Il Barbier de Seville , complete with MIDI: http://www.impresario.ch/sounds/rosbar1B.htm

Funny you should bring this up Rick. I have recently gotten an urge to parody a popular aria from The Barber of Seville---everyone who has seen their fair share of Tom & Jerry cartoons probably would understand which aria I am talking about. Problem is, the only thing I can think of as a topic thus far is something about Gigolos ("Gigolo! Gigolo! Gigolo!) or Pokemon characters ("Jiggly puff! Jiggly-Puff! Jiggly Puff!") :D

Any suggestions, or volunteers for a collaborative effort, would be appreciated and invited. 8)

I know just the one you mean... I had a few lines penned (as an ode to a Fig Roll), but never got the full parody mapped out.  The "Gigolo" idea has got a lot more potential, though.

I just submitted "Thus Break Eardrumustra", my parody of "Thus Spake Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss, better-known to contemporary audiences as the opening theme to the movie "2001 A Space Odyssey".

If you don't have "The Definitive Biography of P.D.Q. Bach" you must get it. It is the to classical music what Al Yankovic is to pop. A sample line I have memorized from P.D.Q. Bach's epitaph, written by the local doggerel catcher:

Heir liegt ein Mann ganz ohnegleich;
Im lieb dick, and Sunden reich.
Wir haben ihn in das Grab gesteckt
Weil es uns dunkt er sei verrect.

Or, if you prefer the English version, also rhyming perfectly:

Her lies a man with sundry flaws
And numerous sins upon his head;
We buried him today because
As far as we can tell, he's dead

And many other hilarious jokes, even for the non-musician.

Thanks for the P.D.Q. Bach info, Rick, that's hilarious!

I've submitted another parody of a classical favorite....

....it's a parody of "The Russian Dance" from "The Nutcracker Suite" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky....

....the parody's title is "It's Barney The Purple Dinosaur!".

I wanted to start a collection of these, but I didn't mean just from you! Actually, that would be fun to put lyrics to the whole "Nutcracker" (Butt Cracker?)

I wanted to start a collection of these, but I didn't mean just from you!

Well golly gee whiz, I hope it's OK that I've been poundin' 'em out here recently!  Just doing my part to contribute to the collection, y'know!  ;D

Do you want me to ease-up for awhile? 


I wanted to start a collection of these, but I didn't mean just from you! Actually, that would be fun to put lyrics to the whole "Nutcracker" (Butt Cracker?)


"Butt Cracker" sounds very plausible.... "The Dance of the Sugar-Bum Fairy".....hmm....

I am currently working on a parody of....

..."Air On The G String" by Johann Sebastian Bach.

My parody's title will be...

..."Hair On The G String"...

...and it will consist of an adaptation of the lyrics of the title song "Hair" from the Broadway musical "Hair".

I hope to have "Hair On The G String" ready for posting sometime in the next day or two.

Hell no, JD. Keep crankin 'em out. I was hoping to inspire a trend. I get "Dance of the Reed Flutes" though.

Hell no, JD. Keep crankin 'em out. I was hoping to inspire a trend. I get "Dance of the Reed Flutes" though.


What's "Dance of the Reed Flutes"  ?

I've been meaning to parody Beethovan's 9th at some point, probably revolving around last year's performance of it in some way. But I haven't gotten around to it.

............. I haven't gotten around to it.



Here ya go! ;D

Johnny---"Reed Flutes" is the two-part one with a piccolo that leads into the trio of flutes. (I wish I could print music here) I want to do that one. Mari says she is already working on "Waltz of the Flowers".

Here ya go! ;D




Very nice.