The Spoof is On Fire
Background: When I was around 7, my brother and I were music shopping. I bought Backstreet’s Back and my brother bought Weird Al’s Running With Scissors, both on cassette. And although I had a goal of joining The Backstreet Boys after graduating 8th grade, I think Weird Al has had a bigger impact on my songwriting, and frankly his process has been echoed by some of the greatest songwriters ever – John Prine started writing songs because he forgot the words to the original and started making up his own to the tune of whatever he was playing. This blog’s focus will be on parody songs. Although not everyone has historically been thrilled with Weird Al spoofing their songs, imitation is the highest form of flattery. My goal in this blog is not to make fun of the originals, but to get at the heart of them and give you inspiration for your own songs that give the same feel as other existing songs, lyrically and/or melodically.
“(This Song’s Just) Six Words Long” by Weird Al Yankovic
Lyrically: To me, a good parody gets at the heart of the original. Although there were many Weird Al songs to choose from in that regard, I think this one does the best job of paying tribute to the original, “Got My Mind Set On You” which was made famous by George Harrison, but originally done by James Ray. In Weird Al’s version, he talks about how much pressure he’s under from the label to make a hit song, then describes the process of writing it. The verses start out with “Couldn’t think of any lyrics. No I never wrote the lyrics. So I’ll just sing any old lyrics, that come to mind, child.” He then says, “They’re payin’ me lots of money,” so “I gotta fill time, three minutes worth of time. Oh how will I fill so much time? I’ll throw in a solo here!” Of course the whole song is derived from the fact that the chorus to “Got My Mind Set On You” has such a simple chorus of seven words (and if you take out the contraction, like he does when he sings it, the spoof is actually seven words long). Here’s how good the parody is: It took about 3 years after hearing the original for me to know Weird Al’s version was spoofing “Got My Mind Set On You.” It makes me smile every time I hear it.
Melodically: The song uses many of the same tricks from the original, with the background vocals coming in singing “Six words long”, instead of “Set on you” throughout, and retaining the same melody from the original. These chords are C#m, G#m, and C#m, followed by E, B, and E, in the chorus, which is a vi, iii, vi, I, V, I progression. The verses use E, A, B (a I, IV, V pattern) for the majority of the verses, but at the end, changes to E, A, E (I, IV, I). Verse two just uses E and A. The interlude uses the same chords as the chorus, and the outro does as well. Instrumentally, it contains drums, bass guitar, electric guitar, synthesizer, and saxophone.
Structurally: The song uses a chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, solo, chorus, verse, verse, chorus. Of course, like the lyrics say, the solo is the only bit of variety within the structure of the song, because he needs to fill time. I absolutely love self-referential humor, and it works very well for the parody, but let’s remember that it worked very well in the original to have that level of repetition. I’ve also noticed in my own writing that starting poppier songs with the chorus does a lot for your overall structure, and we see that here.
You can listen to “(This Song’s Just) Six Words Long” below, as well as the original, “Got My Mind Set On You”
2. ”Reflex Your Verby” by Señor Mara
Lyrically: “Reflex Your Verby” is a parody of “Rock Your Body” by Justin Timberlake, teaching you how to conjugate Reflexive Verbs in Spanish (Reflexive verbs are actions you do to yourself, like shaving, washing your hands, brushing your teeth, etc). Like the Weird Al parody, it was actually hard for me to relearn the lyrics to the original, because the parody was so tight. In the song parody, he encourages you, “Don’t be so quick to conjugate” since reflexive verbs require an added step compared to other verbs. He also demonstrates in the video when a verb is reflexive and when it’s not. That part is easier to watch, but there’s a line in the bridge where he says, “I don’t need no one to help me to shave my beard – you could help me out, but frankly that would be weird.” It’s a joyful song and also educational! (Señor Mara must have really been into Justin Timberlake, because he has a separate video called “Cry Me a Verb” to the tune of “Cry Me a River” that teaches you how to conjugate regular verbs in the present tense).
Melodically: The song uses the same chords as “Rock Your Body,” which is built around the main riff of A9, Em7, and G7, and A7, F9, A9, and Em7 (which serves as an intro, chorus, and interlude between verses). With the song in E minor, this is a IV, i, III, IV, II, IV, i pattern. The verses use G5, Em9, G, a III, i, III pattern, followed by the III, IV, i pattern of G7, A5, Em7, Em9, before closing out on F, Am7, Em7, G, and A5 (a II, ii, i, III, IV pattern). The pre-chorus uses G, A5, Em7, F7, Am7, Em7. This is a III, IV, I, II, iv, i pattern. After the bridge, it uses A7sus4 instead of the A5.
The bridge uses G7, Am7, Em7, and Em, followed by G7, Am9, Em9, G, and Am7, which is a III, iv, i, III, iv pattern. In the parody, the second half of the bridge gets cut off, but the breakdown after the bridge, which involves scatting, remains pretty much the same (though there are no real chords attached).
Structurally: As I mentioned with “(This Song’s Just) Six Words Long,” it begins with the chorus, an effective tool for pop songs. Then it goes into a verse, followed by the pre-chorus, chorus, another verse, another pre-chorus, another chorus, a bridge, instrumental bass breakdown, a pre-chorus, and a final chorus.
“Reflex Your Verby” is embedded below. It’s much better in video form than it would be on Spotify, so I’ve embedded two separate videos, one for this one and one for the original.
3. “Cold Showers Lead to Crack” by The Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Cast
Lyrically: While thinking about what kind of parodies I wanted to highlight in this blog, I was very careful about not including “songs in the style of.” There are many songs from the show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend where you can tell what kind of song they’re trying to emulate. But “Cold Showers Lead to Crack” comes from an episode of the series where the main character, Rebecca, is using the slippery slope argument to try to convince the people of West Covina, California to rebel against the town’s hoarding of hot water, by arguing that if their kids start taking cold showers, it will eventually lead to them using crack. This concept, and plot to rally the townspeople, is the same one Harold Hill uses in The Music Man to convince the citizens they need a music program – and if they don’t let him start one, the kids will be on the street. He cites a pool table that was just put in as the reason kids are starting to use strange words, words like “swell,” and memorizing jokes from Captain Billy’s Wizbang. By the end, he gets everyone singing “Oh we got trouble!” and Rebecca does the same thing with the renters of West Covina. I’ve talked many times about Adam Schlesinger and his genius as a writer, but one thing that made him so perfect for his job composing for this show is that he understood what made existing songs tick. In this case, it was a ridiculous concept, paired with easily persuadable people, and the aforementioned slippery slope argument. Mixing those ingredients together made for a hilarious parody of “Trouble”.
Closing Note: We talked in an earlier blog, A Guy Walks Into 32 Bars, about “The Math of Love Triangles”. Both of these songs were co-written by Adam Schlesinger, who co-write all the songs in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (half jokingly saying when he was commissioned to write 2-3 original songs per episode that only someone who wasn’t a songwriter would think that was possible). We have long established that he’s one of my favorite songwriters, but he showcased an uncanny ability to emulate the styles of many different artists (and many show tunes like this one) throughout the series’ run. I recently read in a biography about Fountains of Wayne that Adam’s grandfather wrote and produced many Broadway shows, so that’s probably where the Broadway portion of this talent came from).
Melodically: The song is written in F major, and uses Bb, Eb, Ebm, Ab, and Db, which are the III, major and minor VI, II, and V chords. Instrumentally, the song uses strings, flute, horns, and percussion. The song itself thrives on Rachel Bloom’s quick vocal delivery, which is crucial for the ploy to work. Someone in the YouTube comments compared it to that of a politician, and even though it’s a lawyer chasing a class action lawsuit, it’s a great choice. She’s talking and singing so fast that it’s hard for the townspeople to think for themselves and disagree with this wild new idea. The tactic in The Music Man was employed to install a music program, and many of the slippery slope arguments used there similarly convinced the people of River City.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, verse, chorus, bridge (which is spoken and contains the townspeople rhythmically whispering “crack” over Rebecca’s talking), followed by one final chorus, sung by the entire ensemble. The verses and first chorus are sung by Rebecca and her co-workers Darryl and Paula, and as I mentioned in the lyric section, thrives on the three of them trying to persuade everyone, while the bridge sees the progress of that endeavor, before the final payoff in the last chorus where they get everyone excited about the lawsuit. Since the whole premise is ridiculous to begin with, it makes sense that it would only get more ridiculous as the song progresses. So beyond the structure, the perspective (who’s singing what and when) is even more important.
You can listen to “Cold Showers Lead to Crack” below. As you can imagine, this isn’t the first time “Ya Got Trouble” has been spoofed. The Simpsons did the same in their episode “Marge vs. The Monorail” and the cast of “Schmigadoon” had a parody in their first season as well. I’ll link all three so you can watch.
Original:
CXG:
The Simpsons
Schmigadoon
4. “What An Ugly Man” by Bob Rivers
Background: In a previous blog, I talked about “Riders on the Storm” by The Doors, and in the editing process, Bob Rivers’ parody of the former song, “Burgers on the Grill,” popped into my head. But since the melody for the original and the parodies discussed are more or less the same, I figured I’d go with a different Bob Rivers parody for this one.
Lyrically: “What An Ugly Man” is a parody of “Lucky Man” by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, and while I like a parody that stays true to the original, this tune goes in the opposite direction. Instead of the lucky man discussed in the original, the character discussed is riddled with dandruff and went alone to his prom. The fun thing about a parody is that you can think of a ridiculous concept, tell yourself, “That’s ridiculous,” then say, “Let’s do it!” and that’s how this song feels. It’s not targeted at anyone in particular, yet we all know this kind of person!
Melodically: What makes this song so humorous isn’t just the lyrics, but the lyrics contrasted with the melody, which stays pretty true to the original, both in terms of chords and instruments used (acoustic guitar, bass, drums, and synthesizers). It’s an underrated skill to be able to write funny lyrics to a sad melody or a sad melody with happy lyrics, and Bob does the former here. With the song written in G major, he uses G and D (the I and the V chords) throughout the intro and verses, before switching to Am, Em, D, Dsus4, and D in the chorus. This is a ii, vi, V pattern, with the ii chord providing tension and vocal harmony before going back into the I and V pattern.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, interlude, verse, chorus, outro format. The outro uses the same “oohs” and “ahhs” as the interlude, but also adds in synthesizers. The song isn’t targeted at anyone in particular, so you don’t need a seven minute takedown like Dylan’s “Idiot Wind” (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) but it has just enough examples to paint a picture and still be enjoyable.
“What An Ugly Man” is embedded below.
