Song Lyrics Parodies
Entry posted by xxmikexx
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A few months ago I discovered that I have a talent for writing parody lyrics to popular songs. For example, here's one that I posted to the Dreamfleet 2007 forum at that time.
The situation was that a new user of Paul Golding's magnificent 727 had complained that thus-and-such didn't work and that as a result he could not use the aircraft, which he considered to be total garbage.
The problem was a simple one to solve, something like putting the elevator in the green range prior to beginning the takeoff roll. But whatever the problem was, consulting (not even reading) the manual would have given the poster the required information.
Without further ado, here's what I posted ...
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As long as I’m on a song parodies roll, an ode to Paul Golding’s commitment to customer support and product excellence. With apologies to Ray Davies of The Kinks ...
When he gets up in the am, ‘fore he buckles down to work,
He scans the DreamFleet forums, to see if there’s a jerk
Who didn’t R-T-F-M and has really gone berserk.
And he’s oh so good, and he’s oh so kind,
And he’s oh so patient with the folks of hostile mind.
He’s a well respected de-vel-op-er making planes of
High fidelity.
He castigates the poster but decides to help him out
Because Paul knows that his Good Karma will damp down an angry shout
And make a happy cus-tom-er - - that’s what it’s all about.
And he’s oh so good, and he’s oh so kind,
He does in-house tests and beta to kill bugs that folks might find.
He’s a well respected de-vel-op-er making planes of
Such high quality.
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One thing that did and does startle me is that the basic form of a parody takes shape very quickly. In the above case I had the essence of the whole thing down in about ten minutes. I spent another hour refining the parody lyrics but that's all it was, refinements.
I take no credit for this stuff. It's simply genes passed down to me from my anscestors -- most definitely a luck of the draw. But while I'm just getting going with this new "career" in song lyrics, i WILL take credit for having cultivated the remainder of my musical talents.
I was born with the ability to learn musical instruments without lessons. (Fine, lots of musicians are.) But the determination to do it -- to spend six years learning to play rhythm and jazz guitar really well, and to play well enough to get paid for playing -- was something I generated on my own. My goal had been to replicate all the R&B and Pop stuff I was hearing on the radio plus all the jazz stuff on the records that my sister owned. I succeeded. And even though I can't play lead guitar, I can COP it.
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Speaking of jazz, one of my high school friends was the son of the maitre d' at NYC's then premier jazz supper club, the Upstairs At The Downstairs. My friend, Jimmy Hernandez, played tenor sax quite well, and he sometimes sat in with the "name" musicians who would perform at the club. But I didn't know any of this till after we became friends, and he heard me play, and he invited ME to sit in.
No, Jimmy, absolutely out of the question. How am I, me, moi, Mikey going to sit in with the likes of Ahmad Jahmal, or the Modern Jazz Quartet? How would that work?
Oddly enough, Ringo Starr has the same reactions. When asked to sit in with <whoever> he will usually reply something like "No, I couldn't possibly do it. Those are REAL musicians up there."
I was never really satisfied unless I was playing with people who were better than I was and who therefore were people I could learn from, but c'mon Jimmy, those are REAL musicians up there.
Edited by xxmikexx
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