I've got a theory that there are 5 songs that should be considered as "Holy Grails"; songs that bring out the best writing skills in Amirighters, and should be attempted in order to "earn your stripes" as a parody writer. I've tackled two of them...
The five (for me) are:

"American Pie" by Don McLean
"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
"I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major-General" by Gilbert and Sullivan
"The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot
"Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast

Of course, this is only my opinion. Does anybody have any other OS's they think should be added to the list? Or are there any of my choices that you vehemently disagree with?

Lines are open....

I've got a theory that there are 5 songs that should be considered as "Holy Grails"; songs that bring out the best writing skills in Amirighters, and should be attempted in order to "earn your stripes" as a parody writer. I've tackled two of them...
The five (for me) are:

"American Pie" by Don McLean
"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
"I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major-General" by Gilbert and Sullivan
"The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot
"Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast

Of course, this is only my opinion. Does anybody have any other OS's they think should be added to the list? Or are there any of my choices that you vehemently disagree with?

Lines are open....


I would include what you already have, and I'd add the following:

"Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan

"Blinded By The Light" by Bruce Springsteen (covered by Manfred Mann's Earth Band)

"In The Court of The Crimson King" by King Crimson

"Vincent (Starry Starry Night)" by Don McLean

"Witch Doctor" by David Seville

"Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" by Crosby, Stills, Nash

"The Battle of New Orleans" by Jimmie Driftwood / Johnny Horton

"The Devil Went Down To Georgia" by Charlie Daniels Band

"Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover" by Paul Simon

I would include what you already have, and I'd add the following:

"Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan

"Blinded By The Light" by Bruce Springsteen (covered by Manfred Mann's Earth Band)

"In The Court of The Crimson King" by King Crimson

"Vincent (Starry Starry Night)" by Don McLean

"Witch Doctor" by David Seville

"Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" by Crosby, Stills, Nash

"The Battle of New Orleans" by Jimmie Driftwood / Johnny Horton

"The Devil Went Down To Georgia" by Charlie Daniels Band

"Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover" by Paul Simon






battle of new orleans? is that the one that starts, in 1840 we took a little trip, cos thats my bill hayley

anyway

i would include

i want candy - aaron carter

stacys mom - fountains of wayne

'Sk8er Boi'  (Okay -- I joke, but... I guess it's a generational thing.)
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (the rhythm makes it a challenge to pull off a parody that's singable at standard tempo)
Both Sides Now (the A-A-A-B-C-C-C-B rhyme scheme can be a challenge to do well)
Big Bopper's 'Chantilly Lace'  (Never tried it -- just thought of it)
Paper Lace's 'The Night Chicago Died' (ditto)
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (never tried that one, either  ::)  )

Oh, but you could go on forever...

i tried super....................

called

superhanyisfantasticshessof***ingsexy

A lot of tough songs have been mentioned, but most of them are not nearly as difficult as parodying eminem without cutting corners on the rhyme scheme. Rapper's delight in probably even harder than those if you actually use all the original lines since it's 3000 words long. That's about the size of a 10-12 page term paper. Of everything mentioned blinded by the light is the only one i've tried to do and failed.

      I've  done all five that kristof listed but i don't think any of them would fall into my top five of hardest songs to parody that i've done. Here's what that list is for the moment (it could change at any time)

      5: Dirt off your shoulder by Jay-Z
      4: Without Me by eminem
      3: Business by Eminem
        2: Lose yourself by Eminem
        1: Baby got back by sir mix-a-lot (that one literally took me years)

I can harldy disagree with Ethan's point, but let's put two and two together.
Generally, the audience for Eminem (and others) aren't associated with intellectualism. So the majority of Eminem (and other) parodies are by twelve year olds using 90% of the original lyrics and just subbing in their name or those of others to get their little buzz of superiority.

And generally, those who parody epics such as Gilbert & Sullivan (and others) are educated folk who have been 'trained' if you will to appreciate the conventions of double-entendre, puns et al.

I totally agree with most of the songs posted here, but I personally am waiting for THE HOLY GRAIL PARODY of Weird Al's 'Albuquerque'. It puts American Pie et al (and others...man, am I funny.) to shame in it's complete lack of pacing, rhyme or any other structural framework for one to parody.

I call dibs on "I'll Be Quirky."

Generally, the audience for Eminem (and others) aren't associated with intellectualism. So the majority of Eminem (and other) parodies are by twelve year olds using 90% of the original lyrics and just subbing in their name or those of others to get their little buzz of superiority.



Speak for yourself, Lukey boy  ;)

I have a theory of my own. It says that any discussion about what exact songs are the best will inevitably end up showing that not all parody writers were born in the same decade… ;-)

How about what types/categories of parodies that you should have done instead?

1. To an almost unknown original that you were well aware that probably everyone else would ignore because they DKTOS.

2. To just about any song but as a long time project, let’s say at least 2-3 months in the making.

3. To any relatively well known song but to a hot topic, written and posted on the same day but still well paced and without filler lines. (This is the one that’s hardest for me, but I have done it, and I’d like to try it more often).

4. To a new song while it’s still hot on the charts.

5. To a very long original, let’s say at least 500 words.

6. A parody about your friends, family or profession that you either performed or put on display for them at home, work or in school.

7. A trilogy or an even longer series of parodies tied together by a theme.


Those are the ones that I can think of from the top of my head.

  //  Peter

How about what types/categories of parodies that you should have done instead?



I've done everything but #4 and #6 on your list.

I don't cater to making song parodies about work or family because there's very little universality in it(ie.,things that most everyone can appreciate or understand). I have a germ of a song idea about the next Pope that I might work on and submit the day the Conclave announces their choice.  ;)

I really have no interest in writing parodies of the songs mentioned in the previous posts. I prefer to do songs that no one has done before. But if I get a miraculously inspired idea, I would definitely go for it. :)

1. To an almost unknown original that you were well aware that probably everyone else would ignore because they DKTOS.
2. To just about any song but as a long time project, let’s say at least 2-3 months in the making.
3. To any relatively well known song but to a hot topic, written and posted on the same day but still well paced and without filler lines. (This is the one that’s hardest for me, but I have done it, and I’d like to try it more often).
4. To a new song while it’s still hot on the charts.
5. To a very long original, let’s say at least 500 words.
6. A parody about your friends, family or profession that you either performed or put on display for them at home, work or in school.
7. A trilogy or an even longer series of parodies tied together by a theme.



I haven't done 1, since I'm not sure what would qualifiy as an almost unknown OS.  I've written some parodies of jazz tunes that relatively few people on this site might know, but they're not unknown generally speaking.  To me, parodying an 'unknown' OS seems to contradict the point of 'parody' -- then it's just original lyrics to an existing tune -- I've done that too.

And I don't think I've ever done 4, because I generally don't listen to current pop.

I've never done anything I've worked 2-3 months on continuously, but I think everyone has stuff they've worked on for a while, put away for a couple of days, worked on again, put away for a couple weeks...

I have a theory of my own. It says that any discussion about what exact songs are the best will inevitably end up showing that not all parody writers were born in the same decade… ;-)

How about what types/categories of parodies that you should have done instead?

1. To an almost unknown original that you were well aware that probably everyone else would ignore because they DKTOS.

2. To just about any song but as a long time project, let’s say at least 2-3 months in the making.

3. To any relatively well known song but to a hot topic, written and posted on the same day but still well paced and without filler lines. (This is the one that’s hardest for me, but I have done it, and I’d like to try it more often).

4. To a new song while it’s still hot on the charts.

5. To a very long original, let’s say at least 500 words.

6. A parody about your friends, family or profession that you either performed or put on display for them at home, work or in school.

7. A trilogy or an even longer series of parodies tied together by a theme.


Those are the ones that I can think of from the top of my head.

  //  Peter




  1. I try not to do unknown songs but i've done plenty with the knowledge that most people here would DKTOS because the song is so new.
  2. a couple of times... rap parodies can take forever if paced properly
  3. I've done that a few times and i don't think i used filler lines. Some examples are Esther (madonna kaballah), oops i married my friend (Britney's 1st marriage), and I need to gloat (J.Lo and Marc Anthony)
  4. I'm sure i've done this more than anyone on amiright possibly more than anyone ever. There have been a bunch of times when i submitted parodies of songs that were still climbing the charts.
  5.  ditto #4, but Luke might have me beat on average word count
  6.  ditto agri
  7.  Yeah i had that refrigerator parody opera a while back but i don't really talk about that anymore

This thread should be aka "Things We Can Suggest That Will Prove Arwen To Be The Chump That She Is."

The thing is that I agree with most everything you all have listed...I've just fallen short...

Red=things I've done...
Blue=things I've never (and am loserly incapable of doing) done...

"American Pie" by Don McLean (I did a weak one once...that didn't even parody the whole song... :-"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
"I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major-General" by Gilbert and Sullivan
"The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot
"Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast

All of Johnny's suggestions...

Josh2's suggestions (Although I'm not really torn up over not having done either of those songs)

Leo's list...color]

Ethan's list... (Though, again...I've not done rap...because I don't want to do it...not because I can't)

1. To an almost unknown original that you were well aware that probably everyone else would ignore because they DKTOS.
2. To just about any song but as a long time project, let’s say at least 2-3 months in the making.
3. To any relatively well known song but to a hot topic, written and posted on the same day but still well paced and without filler lines. (This is the one that’s hardest for me, but I have done it, and I’d like to try it more often).
4. To a new song while it’s still hot on the charts.
5. To a very long original, let’s say at least 500 words.
6. A parody about your friends, family or profession that you either performed or put on display for them at home, work or in school.
7. A trilogy or an even longer series of parodies tied together by a theme. As long as 982 LoTR parodies count... ;)

Yeah...I really need to get move on... :(