Hey Jack,

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall is okay with abbreviated verses (i.e., 99-66, and so on), but I have tossed around the idea of a group parody for that song to do it properly.


If you are starting a group parody of 99 Bottles Of Beer, can I join in please? Don't worry my contribution will be nowhere near as bad as my 99 Cold Blocks Of Ice In My Bed parody!

Thank you. Jason

I love to vary choruses as much as possible ... case in point, "Eary Liason", my parody of Mr. Mister's tune "Kyrie": 
http://www.amiright.com/parody/80s/mrmister4.shtml

The OS's chorus is:

Kyrie Eleison
Down the road that I must travel
Kyrie Eleison
Through the darkness of the night
Kyrie Eleison
Where I'm going will you follow
Kyrie Eleison
On a highway in the light

That chorus occurs 5 times in the OS.  Repeating a parodied version 5 times would be as tedious as the OS's 5 repetitions!

I don't think it's absolutely necessary, but it does give the parody a broader selection of words. I'm all for it. Heck, I've even done it in a few parodies that I've written (but am still not ready to submit).

Weird Al has even made some of his parodies with varied choruses, as mentioned above.



I'm pretty sure this was discussed a while back, but I can't seem to find that topic at the moment...

Yes, I seem to remember a similar thread too, but it's probably buried WAY far down.


Edit: yes, it was right here. Seems like it was originally discussed about a year ago.

Never?  ;)

By my calculations, you're about 690 "na nas" and a ton of ad-libbed wailing short of completing the song.  :D

(Weird Al shortened the prechoruses on "Smells Like Nirvana" too... )

Ant


Y'see...that wasn't me. That was my shiftless brother (who also goes by the name Kristof); he's the black sheep of the family, always on welfare, 23 kids to support..... :-[  ;)

Fair cop, Jack...but I've been rehabilitated since then.  :D

I love to vary choruses as much as possible ... case in point, "Eary Liason", my parody of Mr. Mister's tune "Kyrie": 
http://www.amiright.com/parody/80s/mrmister4.shtml

The OS's chorus is:

Kyrie Eleison
Down the road that I must travel
Kyrie Eleison
Through the darkness of the night
Kyrie Eleison
Where I'm going will you follow
Kyrie Eleison
On a highway in the light

That chorus occurs 5 times in the OS.  Repeating a parodied version 5 times would be as tedious as the OS's 5 repetitions!




I didn't see that parody, until now.

Edit: I definetly agree with you on that too.

(Weird Al shortened the prechoruses on "Smells Like Nirvana" too... )


Ah, but then he was using the radio edit of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', which halved said prechoruses, and the intro and solo as well. I only recently found out this little nugget, so I might as well use it whenever possible.

Anyways, it's always good to vary choruses. I follow that as a rule (I believe it was ol' Red Ant himself who suggested it to me - he helped me through those early years). If you don't, people may not bother to read the whole song. To keep thempaying attention, mix things up a bit. Then they'll read the whole thing - if you're lucky, several times because it's that good. Take it from me - varing choruses is one step towards parodial awesomeness.

Pieman

Can I weigh in?

I agree with the general concensus around here that choruses should be used and abused in as many varied ways as possible, which includes finding different chorus subs as much as possible.

I would, however, like to make a distinction between parodies that are written and then enjoyed on paper vs parodies that are recorded and enjoyed as audio.

On paper, any joke or variation on the original you can fit into a parody is a good thing. People can take as much time as they have to read and reread each line of a written parody and are in a position to appreciate all the work that goes into a parody. This includes the complex plays on words and however many jokes and clever whatevers the author was able to fit into their parody.

As audio, there are many more limits. For starters, every joke and punchline and clever whatever in the parody must now be crammed into a specific chunk of time because it is being performed. People can't go back and 'reread' a line or take their time initially 'reading' a line because they aren't reading the words anymore. Added to that, the performance quality and style is now set in stone and is no longer up to the imagination of the parody reader. This is my opinion, but there are some amazing authors here on the site who have amazing written works that never get enough attention once they are recorded because the original goes too freakin' fast and half the jokes in the parody are lost on an initial listener. And if the listener has trouble following a recoreded parody initially, that listener probably won't go back for a second listen unless they feel really motivated.

So what does this have to do with choruses? Really good question. In a recorded parody, as I stated, you gotta cram your jokes into a confined space. For that reason, sometimes it is better to have one joke that is repeated and functions the same as the original chorus, to 'hook' those parody listeners who are listening for the first time to YOUR version of their favorite or most detested song. Sometimes you can pull off varied choruses in a recording, sometimes not so much because you end up 'battling' your own jokes in the process of trying to fit too much into a small space. Odds are, when you record, you'll have to battle some of your own jokes anyway, especially if there is still as much creativity on this site as when I last checked in a couple of months ago.

That was as much a seminar on recording as it was a response about choruses. I would apologize, but you could have stopped reading at any time and you chose not to stop, so I feel no reservations. If you are in a position to be annoyed, then I would question why indeed you are still reading at all.

It's good to be back. Sorry for spamming about recordings. See you all around a bit more now that I'm out of the woods. Later.

-Glen

Can I weigh in?



*And in the blue corner, weighing in at ??? pounds, the looney toon himself, Glen STOLLLLLL-BERRRger!!!!*

Good to see ya back Glen.

Excellent points about the recorded vs written parodies. There are two other things I recently realized with live karaoke or parody performance. One is that people are doing other things besides listening to the singer (chewing gum, talking, deciding whether or not a nacho falling on the bar floor still counts under the three second rule...) so you do not have the undivided attention of everyone to begin with. Subtle jokes and wordplay are going to be missed by many, even those who are hanging on your every word (don't I wish  ;)). The second is that with every varied chorus, you have that much more to remember. It wasn't too bad with the song I chose, but I'd need to invest a massive amount of time to be able to consistently pull off something like my version of American Pie, which has all the choruses varied.

Another thing: no matter how funny the words may be, not singing it well is going to kill any chance at humor or listenability. One woman hit and held a high note that nearly gave me a Grand Mal seizure: I didn't listen to the rest of her song.

Recordings are done in a more controllable environment, so much of the above doesn't apply to them.

So I guess that would be three things, only one of which has to do with varying choruses. At least I was somewhat on topic.


Y'see...that wasn't me. That was my shiftless brother (who also goes by the name Kristof); he's the black sheep of the family, always on welfare, 23 kids to support..... :-
Ah, but then he was using the radio edit of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', which halved said prechoruses, and the intro and solo as well. I only recently found out this little nugget, so I might as well use it whenever possible.

Anyways, it's always good to vary choruses. I follow that as a rule (I believe it was ol' Red Ant himself who suggested it to me - he helped me through those early years). If you don't, people may not bother to read the whole song. To keep thempaying attention, mix things up a bit. Then they'll read the whole thing - if you're lucky, several times because it's that good. Take it from me - varing choruses is one step towards parodial awesomeness.

Pieman


I never knew a radio edit existed for SLTS. Interesting!

And thanks for the shout out: I'll make sure to include it in my memoirs.

"back in the old days, long before iPhones existed, I met up with this young lad named 'bobpiecheese'"

"Grand-dad, what's an iPhone?"

Ant

Ah, but then he was using the radio edit of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', which halved said prechoruses, and the intro and solo as well. I only recently found out this little nugget, so I might as well use it whenever possible.

Anyways, it's always good to vary choruses. I follow that as a rule (I believe it was ol' Red Ant himself who suggested it to me - he helped me through those early years). If you don't, people may not bother to read the whole song. To keep thempaying attention, mix things up a bit. Then they'll read the whole thing - if you're lucky, several times because it's that good. Take it from me - varing choruses is one step towards parodial awesomeness.

Pieman


I own the radio edit, it doesn't halve the prechoruses, part of the solo was cut out.

From Wikipedia:

The single edit of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," which was featured in the music video, removes approximately thirty seconds from the album version. In particular, two repetitions of the main riff have been removed from the beginning of the song, as has the repeat of the first section of the guitar solo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smells_Like_Teen_Spirit

It's down in the Formats and track listing section.

I was thinking about something today. Correct me if im wrong but if you 'vary' a chorus, then technically its not a 'chorus' after all, its more of an extended verse. Just something I personally feel. Im not trying to stir up a hornet's nest but im just stating that I feel a chorus should not be varied.

Jason.

Varying a chorus is definitely a “taste” thing.  Some people don’t like opera, some people don’t like rap, and some people don’t like varied choruses.  But I strongly agree with the consensus that parodies with varied choruses are more entertaining for readers and listeners.  Whether they are called varied choruses, extended verses, or whatever.

As far as live performances are concerned, the Capitol Steps almost always vary the choruses on their song parodies.  Maybe since people who attend Capitol Steps concerts pay about $50 per ticket, they are more inclined to listen to the lyrics than people who simply pay a cover charge to hear karaoke or other similar performances.  But one thing that works for the Capitol Steps is to invite audience participation (singing along) when they perform parodies with repeating choruses.

Can I weigh in?

I agree with the general concensus around here that choruses should be used and abused in as many varied ways as possible, which includes finding different chorus subs as much as possible.

I would, however, like to make a distinction between parodies that are written and then enjoyed on paper vs parodies that are recorded and enjoyed as audio.

On paper, any joke or variation on the original you can fit into a parody is a good thing. People can take as much time as they have to read and reread each line of a written parody and are in a position to appreciate all the work that goes into a parody. This includes the complex plays on words and however many jokes and clever whatevers the author was able to fit into their parody.

As audio, there are many more limits. For starters, every joke and punchline and clever whatever in the parody must now be crammed into a specific chunk of time because it is being performed. People can't go back and 'reread' a line or take their time initially 'reading' a line because they aren't reading the words anymore. Added to that, the performance quality and style is now set in stone and is no longer up to the imagination of the parody reader. This is my opinion, but there are some amazing authors here on the site who have amazing written works that never get enough attention once they are recorded because the original goes too freakin' fast and half the jokes in the parody are lost on an initial listener. And if the listener has trouble following a recoreded parody initially, that listener probably won't go back for a second listen unless they feel really motivated.

So what does this have to do with choruses? Really good question. In a recorded parody, as I stated, you gotta cram your jokes into a confined space. For that reason, sometimes it is better to have one joke that is repeated and functions the same as the original chorus, to 'hook' those parody listeners who are listening for the first time to YOUR version of their favorite or most detested song. Sometimes you can pull off varied choruses in a recording, sometimes not so much because you end up 'battling' your own jokes in the process of trying to fit too much into a small space. Odds are, when you record, you'll have to battle some of your own jokes anyway, especially if there is still as much creativity on this site as when I last checked in a couple of months ago.

That was as much a seminar on recording as it was a response about choruses. I would apologize, but you could have stopped reading at any time and you chose not to stop, so I feel no reservations. If you are in a position to be annoyed, then I would question why indeed you are still reading at all.

It's good to be back. Sorry for spamming about recordings. See you all around a bit more now that I'm out of the woods. Later.

-Glen


And welcome back, I am building an all-inclusive site about the SOTM of old, you were very competitive back then--is that Glen back also?  If not it's cool--but you were an elite at one point in comp. . .as a regular recording artist I can relate to a lot of what you just said. . .for me it also turns out that you can have certain lines be hooks rather than whole choruses in some songs--that's how I'm able to get decent ratings at AmIRight and still average a top 25 on Soundclick in listens.  Most of my top downloaded songs are varied choruses, but on some songs it HAS caused the recording to leave a lack-luster feeling.

As far as live performances are concerned, the Capitol Steps almost always vary the choruses on their song parodies.  Maybe since people who attend Capitol Steps concerts pay about $50 per ticket, they are more inclined to listen to the lyrics than people who simply pay a cover charge to hear karaoke or other similar performances.  But one thing that works for the Capitol Steps is to invite audience participation (singing along) when they perform parodies with repeating choruses.

Yes, I saw them in Santa Barbara in May of last year. They put on a great show. 8) I can't remember how much the tickets were worth, but I enjoyed their performance. I didn't know any of their music at first, either. Their spoonerism monologues are hilarious.

One thing to keep in mind when varying a chorus: It's not necessary to make each chorus 100% different... You can do subtle changes that help it in variety...

(I just thought about this thread for some reason and decided to post about it)


Of course, some songs are harder to heavily vary the chorus... My parodies of "Take Me Home Tonight"(Eddie Money) and "Buy Me A Condo"(Weird Al) have subtle changes in the choruses, but it's only a small amount of words. They were abit harder to parody, the themes I chose, although more or less flexible, didn't allow for greatly varied choruses.