[lit-ideas] Re: Bolcom and Morris - a short digression
- From: Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:38:49 +0000 (GMT)
Everybody understood I hope that the joke of the song is that every line is a
palindrome? It's a pretty clever basis for a parody because it is not so much
satirising Dylan at all for bad lyrics (I suspect Weird Al is a big fan, but we
haven't spoken since the fifties) but those who miss the point of his lyrics or
read into them what is not there, and Weird Al would surely be delighted if
someone actually read the words as trying to be profound - they are just
playing a linguistic game.
Hence I signed
Donallanod
It's really just Donal.
Donal
--- On Wed, 23/4/08, Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Bolcom and Morris - a short digression
> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Wednesday, 23 April, 2008, 6:30 AM
> Weird Al Yankovic is a parodist and satirist of pop music
> and its stars. He's quite often very fnnny. I
> didn't find Donal's selection particularly funny, a
> bit, yes, but not up to Al's best work. Ak was paroding
> a famous scene from Pennebacker's documentary film
> "Don't Look Back" -- I once had a dog I
> named 'Don't Look Back', but he not only
> didn't look back, he didn't look both ways before
> crossing the street and ended up as ground beef. The song
> Weird Al was paroding was Dylan's "Subterranean
> Homesick Blues" -- (see below) and Weird Al's cue
> cards were a parody of Dylan's tossed aside lyric cue
> cards in the film. That was the funniest thing about the
> parody -- that and the Ginsberg looking character in the
> background.
>
> SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK BLUES
> Johnny's in the basement
> Mixing up the medicine
> I'm on the pavement
> Thinking about the government
> The man in the trench coat
> Badge out, laid off
> Says he's got a bad cough
> Wants to get it paid off
> Look out kid
> It's somethin' you did
> God knows when
> But you're doin' it again
> You better duck down the alley way
> Lookin' for a new friend
> The man in the coon-skin cap
> In the big pen
> Wants eleven dollar bills
> You only got ten
>
> Maggie comes fleet foot
> Face full of black soot
> Talkin' that the heat put
> Plants in the bed but
> The phone's tapped anyway
> Maggie says that many say
> They must bust in early May
> Orders from the D. A.
> Look out kid
> Don't matter what you did
> Walk on your tip toes
> Don't try "No Doz"
> Better stay away from those
> That carry around a fire hose
> Keep a clean nose
> Watch the plain clothes
> You don't need a weather man
> To know which way the wind blows
>
> Get sick, get well
> Hang around a ink well
> Ring bell, hard to tell
> If anything is goin' to sell
> Try hard, get barred
> Get back, write braille
> Get jailed, jump bail
> Join the army, if you fail
> Look out. kid,
> You're gonna get hit
> But users, cheaters
> Six-time losers
> Hang around the theaters
> Girl by the whirlpool
> Lookin' for a new fool
> Don't follow leaders
> Watch the parkin' meters
>
> Ah get born, keep warm
> Short pants, romance, learn to dance
> Get dressed, get blessed
> Try to be a success
> Please her, please him, buy gifts
> Don't steal, don't lift
> Twenty years of schoolin'
> And they put you on the day shift
> Look out kid
> They keep it all hid
> Better jump down a manhole
> Light yourself a candle
> Don't wear sandals
> Try to avoid the scandals
> Don't wanna be a bum
> You better chew gum
> The pump don't work
> 'Cause the vandals took the handles
>
> *****
>
> Those lyrics are quite different from Weird Al's parody
> lyrics.
> Mike Geary
> Memphis
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Andy" <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 2:31 PM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Bolcom and Morris - a short
> digression
>
>
> >I heard of Weird Al but I'm pretty clueless.
> I'll
> > check him out. Just wondering, what specifically do
> > you disagree with that I said about Dylan? That I
> > used to think that he was a low life? That was based
> > on a comment I heard him say way back which I
> won't go
> > into. Over the years I've learned to feel sorry
> for
> > people who do/say lowlife things because I understand
> > that when people do/say low life things it's
> because
> > they're hurting. So, forgive and forget and I now
> see
> > how good his music is. I actually like Dylan. I said
> > he was magic.
> >
> > I like all kinds of music, except today's music.
> I
> > have tried, yes I have tried to learn to like it but I
> > absolutely can't stand it for more than a minute.
> > Maybe I just need someone to walk me through it or
> > something. Somewhere along the line I did the old
> > bumper sticker thing which is I stopped the world and
> > got off and now can't or don't want to get
> back on.
> > Part of it is that I much prefer interviews and I
> > hardly ever listen to music, not even when driving,
> > except maybe for exercise and my collection is not
> > extensive and I'm getting tired of it.
> >
> > Anyway, I'm surprised that you don't stand up
> for
> > Elvis. He's in the pantheon somewhere too, toward
> the
> > top of the list somewhere. The Beatles are now
> > cliches, that's the only thing that's wrong
> with them.
> > They really did some brilliant things later on after
> > they got past the I want to hold your hand junk.
> I'm
> > inclined to think that all this non-narrative type
> > music has to be a trickle down from the earlier
> > disjointed art and everything from the moderns. I
> > don't know where I'm going with that. Maybe
> later.
> > And maybe not. That's it. Gotta go.
> >
> >
> > --- Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >> Irene, you do know who Weird Al Yankovic is,
> don't
> >> you?
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
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> >
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