NOTE: If you're my Facebook friend, you might have already seen this. This post is taken directly--yes, it's verbatim and unedited, except for the correction of one small punctuation mistake on my part--from a note I posted on Facebook in May. If, for whatever reason, you didn't see it or don't remember it, but you have read my parodies, then please read this, even if you are my Facebook friend. The next post will be an addendum of sorts, so look out for that. Enjoy!
I thought about making this a post on Blogspot, but I then realized that it's easier to tag people on a note. If I tagged you, don't worry; I'm not upset with you or anyone else. I just need to explain some things about my parodies.
First off: Despite them being called parodies, their intent is almost never to be funny. Some of you may already know this, but, for those who don't: I have been writing parodies since I was in middle school. My first ones were of songs by dc Talk--look them up if you don't know who they are--and were usually complaints about things in my life, or attacks on people I had problems with (not that I'm saying that was okay.) Although they may seem laughable now, especially considering that they were written by somebody who didn't even have a full understanding of what the original lyrics said, the intent was serious. I needed a way to vent about problems in my life, and that was one of the ways I did it. If you've read some of my more recent parodies, like "Love and Rejection," "Evil Things," or "You'll Never Know," you can see that I still do that from time to time. Even ones that may sound humorous, such as "You Are My Number One" or "The Siobhan Magnus Song", aren't intended to be. I've only written one parody that was supposed to be funny, and that's of a song probably few if any of you have heard.
Second off: I don't intentionally do songs that people (friends or otherwise) don't know. Most of the songs I've parodied recently have been songs that were also redone by ApologetiX, a parody band I used to adore. The band said that the songs they were parodying were popular at the time of each album's release, and that's probably true. However, they have been recording CDs since 1997, so some of the songs that were big hits then might be forgotten now. One such example is Bush's "Little Things", which I parodied not too long ago. ApologetiX redid that song on their 1997 album, which fully consisted of redone songs from that era, like "Loser," "Come out and Play," and, yes, "You Oughta Know". I've heard the original versions of those songs played on the radio in the past few years, and I've also seen people around my age refer to or recognize the songs, despite the fact that, at the time those tunes were popular, those people were probably too young to be into music. However, when I wrote my parody of "Little Things," no one I showed it to had heard the original, even people who had heard "You Oughta Know". I will admit that, when I started writing parodies in middle school, the songs I redid were usually little-known, especially to the people I went to school with. That was only because all I listened to at the time was Christian music, and I hadn't gotten into ApologetiX yet, so I didn't know any secular tunes well enough to write an entire parody of them while being at school and not having access to any music. That's been one of the things I've tried to combat in recent years. There are plenty of songs (Christian and secular) on my playlist that I could easily write new lyrics to, but I know that very few if any of my friends would even know the songs. Maybe some of you could come up with some suggestions of songs I could parody. It's up to you.
Lastly: Parodies are my version of writing music. You all probably know that I have little musical talent. I can't sing, I definitely can't dance, and I'm pretty sure that playing an instrument isn't in my future. Not only that, but the musical scale has always confused me, which is one of the reasons I didn't take band or orchestra in school. If I were to make up a tune, and write lyrics to it, chances are I'd forget how the tune went. So, instead of writing my own music, I take tunes that I hear various places and make them my own. I wouldn't mind having some of my parodies recorded, just so I could hear what they sound like, but I think that if that were to happen, it would have by now. Who knows? Maybe, one day, some people who have great musical talent will record "Love and Rejection," "The Siobhan Magnus Song," or "The Ultimate High-School Crush". Until then, though, I'll just continue writing them as a way to get my feelings out.
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