As veterans here may know, I've been a fan of the parody arts since the 1970s. Weird Al became an integral facet of my life when he came on the scene, but there have been so many other artists heard on The Dr. Demento Show offering great song parodies which I consider classics. In this thread, I will occasionally spotlight some of my favorites from over the years, offering links to free mp3s, Youtubes and lyrics wherever I can find them.

For the debut post, here is The Iceman, with his parody of George Michael's "I Want Your Sex", simply titled "I Want Your Socks." You'd think that this would be an especially limiting song idea, but the Iceman manages to make a funny tune, making every line count--and the performance apes Michael's to a tee, adding to the giggleworthiness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwD7Qk9ZPqQ

Hey, great idea! Thanks for doing this. Karma given.

In 1984, the supergroup USA For Africa recorded and released "We Are The World", a heartfelt tune crafted to inspire charity donations to the starving people of Ethiopia and other countries within the continent, spearheaded by British artist Bob Geldof and the U.K. charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Later that year, Ken Johnson & Jim Tufti presented to the Dr. Demento Show their parody of this heartfelt anthem, dedicated to a more desperate life-form, and not without controversy (this was temporarily banned from radio airplay).

By Amiright standards, this parody would lose points for not completing the entire song, however the sheer audacity of the tune cannot be overlooked. It is one parody that led me to the dictum that "No song is parody-proof."
We Are The Worms http://www.bumpermorgan.com/mp3/worms-kjohnson


As a bonus for the weekend, I also present another version of We Are The World, but in an unusual circumstance. I would call this performance a "fake parody", due to the fact that any reasonably intelligent person could tell that this was a knock-off of an original song, but it has musically been rearranged to NOT be the original song to avoid legal action (a topic I will explore on another date).

Here then are The Residents, with their randomly worded "fake parody" of We Are The World, oddly titled "Just For You" (warning: contains one naughty word not safe for little kids or office workers). Is there a point to it? Maybe yes, maybe no.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQuHwAFk2P0

LYRICS
When I wake up
When I am not asleep
Sometime between the night and the day
The Creepy Weeper's calling
and reaching out his hands to me
the longest arm of all

Then he tells me
exactly what to do
for you
who need me most of all
and says if I should grow up
we'll lose the perfect love
he says
I'm made up out of them

I am a fake
I am a ripoff
I will definitely sheesh on you to get off

When my life is over
I'll think about the day
and joy that I created maybe just for you

Eventually,
he says the strongest walls will fall
and show the monkey (that's me)
Give them the gift of knowing
the truth behind the dream
they love much more than you and me

I am unreal
I am pretentious
I am definitely far beyond redemption

But when I finally wake up
there's nothing else to do
but write a silly song
and sing it just for you

YOU and ME!
ME and ME!

When you think about me
and what I seem to be
You'll see that life is mainly me

I am the world
I am the real one
I will definitely step on bugs (and kill them)

But in this voice I'm thinking
I know just what to do
I'll make a perfect turd and sell it
just for you

I am a sponge
I am a pissant
I am definitely enclosed by sycophants

But if my tongue's wisdom
fall underneath your ears
I'll try forgiveness in me
just for you

I am a worm
I am a goofball
I am definitely not there when the poop falls

But there is a feeling in me
that elevates my soul
when I wallow in self pity
just for you

I am a flake
I am a donut
I am definitely whinier with no nuts

But sometimes I look up
and feel the sun on me
and know it is a perfect world
(it has to be!)
yes, I know it is a perfect world
it has to be!

Roaches Bobby Jimmy & the Critters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yygrgcOtezM&feature=related

The original song, "Rumors" by Timex Social Club.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRte0S2a_dA

Bobby Jimmy is actually a performer named Russ Parr. He steals a few more lines of the OS than I would normally accept, but the silly Eddie Murphy-like charm and off-key vocals make this one very memorable.

At Dragon*Con 2004, Dr. Demento declared “the great Luke Ski” to be his radio program’s “Most Requested Artist of the 21st Century”. Since then, Luke has held onto that title by having a song within the top five of “The Dr. Demento Show’s” year-end “Funny 25″ countdown of his most requested songs of the year for five years in a row, including two of them at #1 (”Peter Parker” featuring Sudden Death in 2002, and “Stealing Like A Hobbit” in 2003). His song parodies, originals, stand-up and sketches about pop culture pheonema (doot doo, do-do-do!) have make him a favorite performer at science-fiction and fandom conventions all across the midwest and beyond. He’s released seven albums over the past ten plus years, and a DVD in 2006, titled “The Ego Has Landed”, featuring appearances by many fellow members of “the Funny Music Project” (theFuMP.com), a full live concert, and music videos for “Hobbit” and his convention favorite “Grease Wars”. His latest album “BACONspiracy” features many of the new songs he’s created for the FuMP, such as his new Doctor Who tribute “It Takes Who”, and his Piratey Dr. Demento hit, “You Don’t Know Jack”.
www.greatlukeski.com

He embraces the "fan boy" culture like no other comedy performer I know of. His far-reaching skills in rap parodies, are quite amazing in particular. You can go to his website for mp3s and other links for listening and purchasing, but here's a fan-made video for what I consider one of his greatest parodies.
Stealing Like A Hobbit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYQEJL54Ed4

Roaches Bobby Jimmy & the Critters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yygrgcOtezM&feature=related

The original song, "Rumors" by Timex Social Club.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRte0S2a_dA

Bobby Jimmy is actually a performer named Russ Parr. He steals a few more lines of the OS than I would normally accept, but the silly Eddie Murphy-like charm and off-key vocals make this one very memorable.


Wow, I've been looking for this for months.  Agri...thanks!!!

Wow, I've been looking for this for months.  Agri...thanks!!!

Look elsewhere on the Youtube for his originals "We Like Ugly Women" and "Big Butt", totally tasteless but funny.

Allan Sherman was the King of Parody in the 50s and 60s. He's most well-known for "Hello Muddah Hello Fadduh" (not technically a parody, as it was based on a theme from Ponchielli's' 'Dance Of The Hours"), but his ingenious rips on pop standards and folk tunes wonderfully satirized 20th century lifestyles, Jewish culture, and anything else that grabbed his mind. His influence on Weird Al is inestimable.

Harvey & Sheila There's only 1 verse and chorus to the original "Hava Nagila", but Sherman makes every additional verse count with this alphabet soup of a story  ;D.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1AA9N-mEV0

There's so many great things about this track "You Went The Wrong Way Old King Louie" . The mashup intro with "La Marseillaise" is clever and sets the tone, the history lesson is great, each couplet yields TMGLTM, and one doesn't have to know the OS, "You Came A Long Way From St. Louis" to enjoy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfmiGiD_XGA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdGHx9v1eCY (Chuck Berry covers "You Came A Long Way From St Louis")

Crazy Downtown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQVAmqM9J-s

Travis Meyer's "Devil went to Jamaica" has always been one of my favourite parodies; before that, there was Jasper Carrott's "Day Trip to Blackpool"

I grew up loving the Barron Knights; the first record I bought was the Wurzels "Combine Harvester", which had a parody I am a cider drinker on the flip side.

Billy Connolly's done a great "four-legged friend" parody - a must-watch, if ever there was one

Travis Meyer's "Devil went to Jamaica" has always been one of my favourite parodies; before that, there was Jasper Carrott's "Day Trip to Blackpool"

I grew up loving the Barron Knights; the first record I bought was the Wurzels "Combine Harvester", which had a parody I am a cider drinker on the flip side.

Billy Connolly's done a great "four-legged friend" parody - a must-watch, if ever there was one


What is Billy parodying there?
I don't know any of his tunes besides this one... D-I-V-O-R-C-E and this WEIRD one
(i got the trick of the URL, finally... :-Heaving On A Jet Plane

What is Billy parodying there?



A Four-Legged Friend by Roy Rogers

MTA:  I found some lyrics

Lazlo & Gary
Don't Touch That

Ignore the video images. A bit unorthodox, but I think this is funnier than Weird Al's "Can't Watch This"

Homer & Jethro were the original "redneck" humor artists, but unlike someone like Larry The Cable Guy...or even Cledus T Judd...they were consummate musicians (particularly Kenneth "Jethro " Burns' turns on the mandolin) and usually very clever song parodists. They won a Grammy for their parody of Johnny Horton's "Battle of New Orleans" called "The Battle Of Kookamonga", a summer camp saga predating Allan Sherman's "Hello Muddah Hello Faddah" by half a decade. Unlike Sherman's tale of woe, these boys are havin' a swingin' good time!

"How Much Is That Hound Dog In the Window" makes mincemeat of Patti Page's "How Much Is That Doggie In the Window", and showcases some fine steel guitar and Burns' mandolin pickin'. Yee-haw!  8)

How many people here never realized that  On Top Of Spaghetti was a parody of On Top Of Old Smokey  ?

OK. I planned to discuss what I called Fake Parodies in my first post. I'm ticked off that I don't have all the resources that I wanted to share with you, but here goes..

What I am calling a Fake Parody is a song that is written expressly as a knock-off of a well-known pop song, with most of the original ryhtms intact and just enough of the melody or bassline changed so that the song could not legally be called a plagiarism. You can hear this in Weird Al's "original" song The Night Santa Went Crazy, as it knocks off Soul Asylum's "Black Gold".

But these are my favorite Fake Parodies that you may or may not remember.

Johnny Ray had a big hit with the tune "Cry" in 1951. Able Stan Freberg, the king of comedy satire, rewrote the tune admittedly to avoid lawsuits and lampooned it as "Try". I am ticked off because I can't find a complete stream or video of this classic Freberg track. The best I can do is a sample at the Mad Music Archive here:
http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=10646

And here is another fake parody:
Leader Of The Pack by The Shangri-Las (OS) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syckLQQBShc&feature=related
Leader of The Laundromat by The Detergents (fake parody) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FQWCaAsGN4

And one more 
What Kind Of Fool Am I? OS performed by Jerry Vale http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4muqpMqHiYk&feature=related
One Hippopotami fake parody by Allan Sherman...this is one of the greatest comedy songs ever written...and one of the greatest songs ever written in general... in my humble opinion.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umlBrQoG6xk
:D
Enjoy!

Star Wars Cantina.

This is a very fun parody of Barry Manilow's "Copacabana" performed by Mark Jonathan Davis, who has made a name for himself recently under the pseudonym Richard Cheese--performing unlikely rock tunes in a lounge style.

Will The Circle Be Unbroken? performance of the traditional folk tune by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and lotsa guests.

Will The Turtle Be Unbroken? parody by The Mrs. Ackroyd Band.

:D

I am saddened that I can only provide a brief sample for you of this one, but if you register at themadmusicarchive.com, you can hear the entire thing. This is one of the few Thanksgiving-themed song parodies ever recorded.

Soy Un Butterball by Perch Theatre (parody of "Loser" by Beck)
http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/samples/p/e/Perch_Theatre_-_Soy_Un_Butterball.m3u

O'er to Grandma's through the river and the woods
Been up since five to be cooking up the goods
With the turkey and the gravy and the risk of your life
'Cause Grandpa's holding the electric knife
And the football game on the big TV
Uncle John wears the pants that comes in a bunch
And the house is too warm as my mom and Aunt Cecil resume their feud
And I'm just waitin' for the food

Soy un Butterball
I'm a turkey, baby
So why don't you grill me?
(I don't want any yams!)
Soy un Butterball
I'm a turkey, baby
So why don't you grill me?

Everybody tries to give thanks to the past
Then Dad tells a joke and nobody laughs
And little Amy steals your ginger ale
And we don't talk to Donny who's still in jail
And the second game starts at four
And my mind is a million miles away
On scared little pilgrims rammed into shore
When Uncle John starts turning blue in the face
'Cause he ate too fast; choking on a drumstick

Soy un Butterball
I'm a turkey, baby
So why don't you grill me?
(Give him the Heimleich!)
Soy un Butterball
I'm a turkey, baby
So why don't you grill me?

Grandma, you're wearing too much perfume!
Turn down the heat in the living room!
Uncle John, watch where you spill that beer!
You did that "magic trick" LAST year!
Aunt Cecil say mine sticks above my chest
I'm not WEARING one; she's manically depressed
So I go with the kids to the den upstairs
To watch "The Lion King" and then we watch it again
And my Dad says, "We're leaving! Get your butt in gear!"
And it's over; the longest night of the year!

Soy un Butterball
I'm a turkey, baby
So why don't you grill me?
(We're all out of Tums!)
Soy un Butterball
I'm a turkey, baby
So why don't you grill me?

Frank Zappa is not known for recording song parodies, although he had an undying affection for spoofing R&B, disco, and even operatic styles of music. In concert, he and his band occasionally lampooned a tune with improvised lyrics, notably messing with "Louie Louie" for a track called "Ruthi Ruthie" on You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Volume 4...but it's one of the few Zappa in-joke songs that aren't all that amusing.

So instead, here's Zappa, with the Mothers Of Invention on a song that, despite the fact the tempo is 10x faster than the OS and Zappa claims the full songwriting credit on the album notes, is clearly a parody.

Hey Joe OS as performed by Jimi Hendrix.
Flower Punk as performed by The Mothers of Invention

Spike Jones (with his City Slickers) is the top selling comedy-music artist of all time, yet for all of his achievements, did not record many parodies. Here are a few that I am aware of.

I Dream Of Brownie With The Light Blue Jeans parodies the old standard "I Dream Of Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair" (everyone has heard Bugs Bunny sing this melody with his parody fragment "I dream of Jeanie, she's a light brown hare"  ;)). The parody treatment does get abandoned half-way in, however, for the usual Jonesian shenanigans.

Jones, with the assisted vocals of Homer & Jethro (discussed up-thread previously), managed to disembowl the entire half-act opera of Il Pagliacci in 3 1/2 minutes with "Pal-Yat-Chee" (years before Bugs & Elmer took down Der Ring Nibelungen in "What's Opera Doc?" ;)). This is one of my fave Spike Jones tracks of all time.

And finally, I present to you an epic of comedy, a multi-part suite of Spike Jones & the City Slickers parodying Bizet's grand opera Carmen, titled Carmen Murdered. This is approximately 13 minutes long, so sit back and enjoy yourself. Have a great weekend!
Free streaming mp3.
Complete text.

"Desiderata" is one of the weirder Top 40 songs of the '70s...it is actually a poem that was written in 1927.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e363OMcQ3Ac

The National Lampoon released this answer to the tune on the classic album Radio Dinner, "Deteriota" (in the Fake Parody mode). Nobody could, or should, attempt to outdo this one. ;D

Love Jones by The Brighter Side of Darkness.

Basketball Jones parody by Cheech & Chong.

Betcha some of you didn't know that THAT was a song parody?  ;) Would rate a 3 for pacing on Amiright, but a classic.

Johnny Ray had a big hit with the tune "Cry" in 1951. Able Stan Freberg, the king of comedy satire, rewrote the tune admittedly to avoid lawsuits and lampooned it as "Try". I am ticked off because I can't find a complete stream or video of this classic Freberg track. The best I can do is a sample at the Mad Music Archive here:
http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=10646


I have the Stan Freberg Greatest Hits CD showcasing many of his classics. "Try" is one of the ones included. http://www.amazon.com/Stan-Freberg-Greatest-Hits/dp/B000000D69. I also have his second 'presents the United States of America' CD.

I think I have mentioned before, but I also have the "allan sherman my son, the box" collection.  ::)

Definitely two amazing parodists.

I have the Stan Freberg Greatest Hits CD showcasing many of his classics. "Try" is one of the ones included. http://www.amazon.com/Stan-Freberg-Greatest-Hits/dp/B000000D69. I also have his second 'presents the United States of America' CD.

I think I have mentioned before, but I also have the "allan sherman my son, the box" collection.  ::)

Definitely two amazing parodists.


God bless Rhino Records for their Allan Sherman and Tom Lerher box sets...as well as the Stan Freberg boxset Tip Of the Freberg..

Dylan Baranski recently completed the incredible task of parodying "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang.

That reminded me of this old Dr. Demento favorite, which cuts the 15-minute track down to 2min, 45 seconds, and is in all likelihood the very first rap parody.

"Kosher Delight" by The Yiddish People.