Songs

Waves of Blame

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Frantic last minute maneuvers in Congress may yet avert a financial default by the U.S. Government.

Here’s hoping.

Grain

But anyone who cannot pay her bills should be prepared to offer an explanation. In the 1930’s, Popeye’s friend, J. Wellington Wimpy, had such an excuse as his catchphrase.  Though “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today,” would not convince many people to float a loan in 2013.

But I think a disappointing message is received better when it is sung, and it just so happens that Wimpy’s signature dodge fits perfectly into the lovely, lyrical almost-our-national-anthem “America the Beautiful.”  I couldn’t resist, although it feels like sacrilege to replace “purple mountains majesty” with what amounts an empty promise.  But I contend that these are only song lyrics, and they are not nearly as awful as what is about to happen to our real national finances.

Some party bull. Some outright lies.
Recurring waves of blame.
Our fingers point to other guys
And they point back the same.
America! America!
Has self-inflicted ills.
A deadbeat now. A bum, somehow.
Defaulting on her bills!

We’ll gladly pay you Tuesday
for a hamburger today!
We have to be selective
which expenses we defray.
America! America!
The budget is a tool!
Each party hopes the other dopes
will seem the bigger fool!

A manufactured crisis
is something that we still make.
The part that isn’t nice is
that it takes so long to break!
America! America!
I hope we can agree
next time to skip the brinkmanship,
and please don’t furlough me!

The original “Boy Scout” version of America the Beautiful has eight verses. I couldn’t come up with that many, but everything has been downsized since the sequester took effect.

In this case, that’s probably for the best.

Should some songs be off-limits to parodists?   If so, which ones?  

26 thoughts on “Waves of Blame”

    1. At our house we call this the push down song. When my son was young he answered the question, “Who made my baby fall?” with the answer “the guy who pushed her down”

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  4. Good morning. I think some of the spirituals, such as His Eye Is on the Sparrow which was sung by Mahalia Jackson, would not be good ones to use for parodies. I am not a big one for treating anything as sacred. However, a parody of a great spiritual would seem a little too crude to me. Parodies of patriotic songs seems completely appropriate as far as I’m concerned.

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  6. RISE AND SHINE BABOONS!
    Well, it seems that songs that lend themselves to parody get parody, no matter how inappropriate. You know, the free speech thing. One that comes to mind: The Battle Hymn of the Republic. That is not very appropriaate for parody (spiritual revelation and war) yet I spent my childhood marching around singing various versions just for fun.

    So I don’t think we get a say in this. Meanwhile, Dale. Well Done! ANything that helps us cope with the ridiculous GOP these days. (Anyone else get the email about the Tea Party shutting down the Pre-Frontal Cortex?)

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    3. Morning all — actually a quick you-tube search turns up LOTS of BHoR parodies… from banana-loving gorillas to “Horses, Horses, Hallelujah”. Also found silly versions of “Amazing Grace” and even “His Eye on the Sparrow”. Guess nothing is really sacred anymore!

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  8. I think any song that is familiar and reasonably singable is susceptible to being parodied. My dad had an impish, earthy sense of humor that seems to have been inflamed by his time in the US Army. At lunch time he used to break into songs that soldiers sang about unpopular food being served to them, Of course, virtually no parodist can match Dale’s cleverness. I did recently encounter a parody of the Colonel Bogey March, the song made famous in Bridge Over the River Kwai. The Army version of that song usually celebrates “horseshit, it makes the grass go green.” A more recent version inspired this version:

    Here comes
    Tyrannosaurus Rex!
    I think
    He might be after sex!
    Your rectum
    Just might deflect him!
    And you’ll infect him
    In JurASS-
    ic Park.

    (I hope that isn’t offensive. My dad would have loved it!)

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  9. “Filking” (writing parody or science fiction-related lyrics to familiar songs) is a decades-old tradition in SF and Society for Creative Anachronism circles. I say nothing is sacred, and parody on!

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  10. To my mind, the edgier they get, the more fun they are, where you might turn your back slightly as you cover your mouth and snicker, or maybe a slight hmmmfff. That said, I’m sure there SOMETHING where I would go “that’s a bit too far.” Will think on that…

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  11. oh here we go on radio and on the tv too
    the tea party will hold up high the thought they have for you
    poor gop poor gop you just had no idea
    the party claimed your ideals maimed
    by moral diarrhea

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  12. Short answer, “No.” But I’m sure there are plenty of hyper-sensitive types that would say that national stuff (of only their own nation, of course) and religious stuff (of only their own religion) should be off limits because to parody it is offensive…to them. (Those last two words typically get left off to add fictitious weight to their outrage.) Tom Lehrer quote: “You can’t be satirical and not be offensive to somebody.”

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  14. Is this vaguely related?
    Have any of you read “The Faith Club”? Three women–Jew, Muslim, Christian–right after 9/11 meeting over their various faiths. Not quite the book I wanted it to be, but interesting.

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