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Subject: Alan Katz

Written By: Macaroni Man on 06/23/12 at 9:56 pm


In case you don't know, Alan Katz was a parodist of childrens' songs and also traditional songs, who wrote some other books too.  I own "Take me Out of the Bathtub" and "I'm Still Here in the Bathtub" (the title songs both parodies of "Take me Out to the Ballgame.") He is usually paired with illustrator David Catrow, whose exaggerated surreal impressions of the parody just made it funnier and more bizarre.
http://www.alankatzbooks.com/katzsillybooks.html
So here's a discussion topic.  I didn't check too thoroughly to make sure this topic didn't already exist, but I did a search and he didn't seem to appear in any posts on the forum. 


In my opinion, most of the songs are pretty good and clever, but some don't seem to carry over too well since a lot of children songs' lyrics have that charming repetitiveness (like wheels on the bus for example) that he puts a different line in each time.  The rhyming is sometimes basic but sometimes really interesting, although the unusualness may wind up steering the song in a random direction, which... can actually make it sillier!  I'm pretty sure I found these at a book fair before I took interest in writing parodies myself, so it's possible he could be a subconscious inspiration.  I don't know if I can pick a personal favorite out of the two books I have. 

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