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Subject: Hardest song to parody?
What do you think is the hardest song to parody? Id say any Dickie Goodman song and Laxy Mary by Lou Monte ( which I actually did LOL
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
It seems easy, but 'Desparado'. I found out that he swallows some of the words, throwing the pacing off. But, I did do it.
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
I was gonna replky earlier...
The hardest songs for me to parody were:
Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin (Practically impossible, but I did it three times!)
Me Against the Music by Britney Spears & Madonna (I'll never parody that one again! Too many lyrics! Darn you, Britney, for writing such a long song!! lol)
and...
Fast Car by Tracy Chapman (Too long, too repetitive,... Need I say more?
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
I thought "Mambo Number 5" was rather hard... ::)
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
Quoting:
I thought "Mambo Number 5" was rather hard... ::)
End Quote
LOL, I liked your parody of that
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
"Mad dogs and Englishmen" by Noel Coward would have to be the hardest one I've done, given the number of internal rhymes you have to come up with...
"Windmills of your Mind" was quite tricky, though that could have been my subject matter
"My Name Is... (Slim Shady)" gave me a bit of trouble, more in the trying to match the way he says the words as well as the words themselves.
But, of course, the most difficult ones are those which haven't been done yet... I have an idea for "Mr Tambourine Man" which has an awful lot of short-and-long lines to rhyme: I'm not sure how easy that one's going to be.
Phil
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel...then again it just may be the topic i choose
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
"you Oughta Know" By Alanis Moresette, was my most difficult parody. It took 3 days to get it together.
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
Just a quick PS: Mr Tambourine Man ended up being quite a bit easier than I thought...
I guess a lot of it is in the subject matter - this one is sick enough to put you off your Christmas dinner ;-)
Phil
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
Quoting:
LOL, I liked your parody of that
End Quote
lol...thanks... :)
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
So far the hardest one that I've done is 'Fly' by Sugar Ray. It got really annoying (but fun) to find things for that other guy to say throughout the song, you know, the talking guy who said two words after every song line. Right now I'm trying to do some Audioslave, which is decently hard but manageable.
Oh, and here's the winner for hardest to parody in my opinion: Manfred Mann's "Blinded by the Light".
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
Quoting:
Oh, and here's the winner for hardest to parody in my opinion: Manfred Mann's "Blinded by the Light".
End Quote
lyrically or musically? if it's lyrically thank Springsteen :p
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
Quoting:
So far the hardest one that I've done is 'Fly' by Sugar Ray. End Quote
I passed on 'Fly' last week, but now I'm gonna go for it. Think airport security...
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
Yes, Springstein is responsible for the lyrics, but I have sadly never heard his version, only Manfred Mann's. My list of movies to see and songs to listen to grows ever-longer.
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
I vote for Bohemian Rhapsody or American Pie, not because they're necessarily hard lyrically or rhythmically, but because I never have an idea about what to parody about to these songs :-/
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
And I don't mean the regular Springsteen, I mean the brother of Ben Stein, SPRINGSTEIN. I'm just making this hole bigger and bigger, huh?
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
Quoting:
I passed on 'Fly' last week, but now I'm gonna go for it. Think airport security...
End Quote
And it's done and uploaded. Look for it soon...
Half hour...damn!
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
There are so many songs that I haven't tried yet, but the hardest one that I've done so far is "Lose Yourself" -- not only because it's long but the rhymes show up in different places in each verse and line and they don't always rhyme exactly. Second on my list is "Blinded by the Light." "We Didn't Start the Fire" would probably be a challenge, too.
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
The hardest one I've ever seen must have been one of "American Pie." It was about air travel after 9/11, and must have taken the writer the entire 2 hour waiting time at the security gate to write. Hats off to him...and coats, and shoes, and loose clothing too...
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
2 hours... that's nothing. maybe i'm just slow but i think i average a little under 2 hours per parody. Which is in part because almost every rap parody i've ever done, as well as my amiright tribute to we didn't start the fire taking way over 2 hours.
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
Quoting:
2 hours... that's nothing. maybe i'm just slow but i think i average a little under 2 hours per parody. Which is in part because almost every rap parody i've ever done, as well as my amiright tribute to we didn't start the fire taking way over 2 hours.
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The longest I've ever spent on a parody was two days... and I mean two full days (plus a sleepless night.) I don't know why I obsessed over that one, but I did and it wore me out.
Anyway, I wrote it last month, specifically for another site and to Manfred Mann's version of "Blinded By the Light." It could have used another edit or two before I sent it winging on it's way, but I'd reached burn-out, I'd lost two days and all that other stuff I wasn't getting done wasn't exactly doing itself.
So, whether it's really as hard to parody as I made it, I'd have to say "Blinded By The Light" is the hardest song I've parodied, thus far.
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
I'll put my votes in for "American Pie" and "Blinded By The Light" because of the sheer length of the original lyrics, and the sometime irregular pacing of those lyrics.
Some other parodies that took a long time for me to finish included Marty Robbin's "El Paso" and Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue."
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
Thinking about it, I had a few problems with American Pie: mainly trying to fit a quote from Peter Cook into the scansion.
This is what Peter Cook actually said:
Quoting:Like many smallish men (Napoleon, Adolf Hitler, to name but two) Dudley has a superficial charm and warmth that deceive many. Underneath lurks a demented sadist, capable in private of unspeakable deeds. It is my personal belief that his secret ambition is to initiate World War Three. I can only hope that my unfailing modesty and tact may prevent this disaster for a few years to come.End Quote
And here's how it translates into the final verse:
Quoting:People thought they weren't all there
This unconventional, comic pair
But here's what Peter said about his pal
"Just like many smallish men
(say, Hitler or Napoleon)
His warmth and charm are superficial
But underneath a sadist lurks
Capable of monstrous works
It's my personal belief he
Wants to start World War Three.
Only my modesty and tact
Prevents this from becoming fact"
Oh, wasn't Dudley so well backed?
The day the humour died
We were singin'
Bye, bye to both Derek and Clive
etcEnd Quote
But I think I'd put "Don't let's be beastly to the Germans" as the trickiest one I've done so far: Noel Coward is very tricky to parody, given the quality (and quantity) of the original lyric.
Phil
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
Finished my first attempt to parody "Blinded by the Light". I say first, because I will eventually find a premise that fits the song better. In my opinion, it's no classic, but it still takes the surreal coherency of the original lyrics and tries as best it can to make a real coherency emerge. Look for "Look into the Light (Dentist visit)" tomorrow. And I'd have to say after trying the parody, that it is definitely hard, but there are many harder songs, including "American Pie" and "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant". Oh, and points to both Will and Mari D for their masterful work on this song already.
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
I don't know am currently working on Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'", and am having trouble with this one. this is the most I ever had trouble with.
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
For me, there are lots of songs that are extremely hard for me to parody as I'm only a novice. I have a real hard time trying to get the correct pacing in my parodies which many of those whom rate my parodies say I need to do work on my pacing.
Anyways I find the rap songs extremely hard to parody as there are a LOT of lyrics in them. Had a crack at doing "My Name Is: Slim Shady" by Enema Em (that's what I like to call him), which my parody is called "My Name Is: Slim Dusty" which is an Australian traditional country music artist whom was famous for two songs "A Pub With No Beer" and "Beer With Duncan". I a lot of the time stick to simple songs with an average amount of lyrics.
Cheers
Troy
Subject: Re: Hardest song to parody?
I would guess "We Didn't Start The Fire" was especially tough, took a few weeks. My "Unemployment Song" took me quite awhile to get the rhythms right, to match the rhyming, and dreaming up different occupations that would make sense.
It took me 10 years to write my full-length parody of Pink Floyd's "The Wall", but only about 6 months to do the entire "White" album.