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Post by shaxper on Jun 17, 2002 0:04:01 GMT -5
Back in college, I used to take popular songs and make parodies of them that dealt with Shakespeare plays as a way of putting off doing work. I just found one of my favorites tonight and thought I'd share it, just for the heck of it. It's set to "Jump" by Kriss Kross:
KILL
Yo, Hamlet ain't talkin' to anyone today. And we as learned from Thomas Kydd, sometimes you gotta
Kill! Kill! Your dad's ghost'll make you Kill! Kill! Incestuous mom's will make you Kill! Kill! In revenge tragedy you Kill! Kill!
Don't try to compare him to Oedipus the King, with wings as swift as meditation Roman Tragedy is working. I make you kill, kill Bend and twist your will. Might try delaying but it all adds up to nil. To everyone you must attack with a little hack cuz Hamlet's mind is wiggidy wiggidy wiggidy whack!
The war drum's drumming cuz young Fortinbras is coming. The play's the thing cuz Hamlet thinks he's cunning. Laertes is his old bro, but Laertes we all know now works with the king to kill the crazy mo-fo.
Kill! Kill! Your dad's ghost'll make you Kill! Kill! Incestuous mom's will make you Kill! Kill! In revenge tragedy you Kill! Kill!
Uh huh, Uh huh.
Kill! Kill! Your dad's ghost'll make you Kill! Kill! Incestuous mom's will make you Kill! Kill! In revenge tragedy you Kill! Kill!
Liken myself to Pyrus, Pyrus. He almost killed Priam It sparks my interest, interest in R E V E N G and E Yeah, you know me It's got me acting like a whore and that's the real tragedy.
Kill! Kill! Your dad's ghost'll make you Kill! Kill! Incestuous mom's will make you Kill! Kill! In revenge tragedy you Kill! Kill!
uh huh, uh huh.
Kill! Kill! Your dad's ghost'll make you Kill! Kill! Incestuous mom's will make you Kill! Kill! In revenge tragedy you Kill! Kill!
uh huh, uh huh.
I did so many of these back in school, though I have no idea where most of them are right now. Probably on my laptop. I can remember starting one on A Midsummer Night's Dream that never got very far. It's to the tune of The Great Pretender:
The Great Lysander
Oh yes, I'm the great Lysander. I sleep in a wood far from home. My lady is vexed cuz I asked for sex from Helena but she won't consent.
How real is this forest of make believe? A Fairy Queen and an ass can't concieve.
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Post by Ellinore on Jul 7, 2002 0:17:08 GMT -5
*wipes eyes again, getting ready to type a semi-intelligible answer, then is lost to the gigglefits again*
*recovers gradually*
Brilliant. I'll see if I can find mine and be back. Meanwhile, I'll offer this humble relic from among my own old notes:
Hamhandlet, Prince of Checkmark a tragedy in five unspeakable acts
Dramatis Personae: Hamhandlet, Prince of Checkmark Horroratio, friend of Hamhandlet Clodheadius, King of Checkmark Gerbiltrude, Queen of Checkmark Pollywannacrackeronius, Advisor of C. Opiumphilia, Daughter of P. Laymanertes, Son of P. etc. ad nauseam[/i] ACT I SCENE I. Midnight on the battlements of Elsnore Castle. A gentleman with a very long sword accidentally knocks over ten standing pins on his way up the stairs.GUARD I: Whose spare? HORROR.: A strike, I think, but here, my man! Why do you bowl upon the battlements? The sleeping King will wake at this foul noise, And in a fouler humour will he rise To bowl the heads that play at tenpins now! GUARD II: Aw, geez, this watch is boring, dude. Come on-- Oh, yeah--except last night. I'll tell you, man, This ghost came creeping up that stairway there And crawled around, like, on all fours and stuff, And mumbled to himself. HORROR.: What was this ghost? GUARD I.: Well, I dunno, but--guessing from the crown-- It mighta been his recent Majesty, The recent King Hamhandlet. HORROR.: You don't say! GUARD I.: I do, sir, and I even have more proof. The ghost was crawling like the old King did-- He muttered he had lost his marbles, sir, And then he glanced up when he saw our feet To ask if we had seen his son, the Prince. HORROR.: Will wonders never cease! Now, cease this game And stay you `til I've fetched Hamhandlet here. SCENE II. Hamhandlet's room.HAM.: I will not pout. I am not pouting now. I'm just reflecting on my rotten life. My dad just died, my mom forgot like THAT! And now she's marrying his BROTHER Clod. I think I'm gonna barf. And worse, some dude From college, Horroratio, came to stay All summer. He talks like a fricking book, All iambs and pentameter and junk. [Aside] And here he comes! Where are the arasses When someone really needs hide? What ho! HORROR.: Good friend, I have a riddle you must solve. HAM.: Great, is this gonna be like "What's the diff Between a hawk and handsaw?" HORROR.: No, my lord. I speak of matters of much greater weight. I come from on the battlements. A guard Claims to have seen your father's ghost last night. What say you? HAM.: Heavy. HORROR.: Come, my good lord Prince; The guard awaits you on the battlements. HAM.: Okay, let's go. I'm bored, but this sounds good.[/color]
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Post by Harry on Jul 7, 2002 20:27:44 GMT -5
My kids report that Animaniacs did parodies of Shakespeare. I know that Wishbone did a version of the Tempest. I suppose that any show with a dog playing Prospero counts as a parody.
I don't know whether these count as parodies:
MacBird--a play written during the '60s with JFK as Duncan, RFK as Malcolm, and LBJ as MacBird.
What a piece of work is man--a "song" from the rock musical "Hair." If you look at the lines in Shakespeare, you'll notice that they are prose and not verse. That doesn't stop them from being sung. Also, the song is sung by two actors who are obviously in love with each other. This directly contradicts Hamlet's interpretation which immediately follows the words adapted for the song. Oh well. I suppose we should be happy they used Shakespeare.
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The_Turtle
Denizen
Nay, faith, let not me play a woman; I have a beard coming
Posts: 52
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Post by The_Turtle on Jul 8, 2002 5:48:05 GMT -5
For a great 'parody' I recommend the Reduced Shakespeare Company who do the Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) in about an hour and a half and Hamlet backwards.
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Post by Ellinore on Jul 8, 2002 9:38:03 GMT -5
Aha! The Cmplt Wrks of Wllm Shkspr! I love the part about Othello -- done in the style of a cooking show
Some friends of mine used to sing a song in summary of Hamlet, and I wish I could remember it. The chorus at least is something like:
oh fiddlesticks, it really was very funny and I can't remember any of the good parts.
Hey! Look! Here's another high school relic: when I parodied Romeo and Juliet to explain the Krebs cycle in Bio! man, I'm a dork.
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Post by shaxper on Jul 8, 2002 10:31:17 GMT -5
That sounds hysterical! Do you still have it?
My favorite from The Reduced Shakespeare Company is the English Histories football game, where a flag goes down on the field when Lear intercepts because he wasn't a real king (although he actually probably was).
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The_Turtle
Denizen
Nay, faith, let not me play a woman; I have a beard coming
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Post by The_Turtle on Jul 11, 2002 7:53:21 GMT -5
I Think you mean this one, Ellinore:
HAMLET - The Song
There once was a King, nodding in his garden all alone, When his brother in his ear poured a little bit of henbane, Stole his brother's crown and his money and his widow, But the dead King walked and got his son and said, "Now listen, kiddo: I've been killed, and it's your duty to take revenge on Claudius; Kill him quick and clean, and tell the nation what a fraud he is." The kid says, "Right, I'll do it, but I'll have to play it crafty, So that no one will suspect me, I'll let on that I'm a dafty."
So for all, except Horatio -- and he counts him as a friend-- Hamlet -- that's the kid -- he pretends he's 'round the bend; And because he's not yet willing for obligatory killing, He tries to make his uncle think he's tuppence off his shilling. Takes a rise out of Polonius, treats poor Ophelia vile, Tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that Denmark's bloody bile; And a troup of traveling actors, on flight 784, Arrived to do a special one-night gig in Elsinore.
Hamlet, Hamlet, acting balmy, Hamlet, Hamlet, loves his mommy, Hamlet, Hamlet, hesitating; He wonders if the ghost's a fake, and that is why he's waiting.
So Hamlet wrote a scene for the players to enact, So Horatio and he could watch to see if Claudius cracked. The play was called "The Mousetrap" -- not the one that's running now -- And sure enough the king walked out before the scene was through. So now Hamlet's got the proof his uncle gave his Dad the dose -- The only trouble being now that Claudius knows he knows; So while Hamlet tells his mother her new husband's not a fit man, Uncle Claud takes out a contract, with the English king as hit man.
And when Hamlet killed Polonius and concealed the corpus delecti, 'Twas the King's excuse to send him for an English hempen necktie With Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to make quite sure he got there, But Hamlet jumped the boat and put the finger straight on that pair. When Laertes heard his Dad's killed in the bedroom by the arras, He came running back to Elsinore, toute de suite, hootfoot from Paris; And Ophelia, with her Dad killed by the man she was to marry, After saying it with flowers, she committed hari kari.
Hamlet, Hamlet, no messin', Hamlet, Hamlet, learned his lesson, Hamlet, Hamlet, Yorick's crust Convinced him all men, good or bad, at last must come to dust!
Then Laertes lost his cool, and was demanding retributions, The King says, "Keep your head, and I'll supply you with solutions." So he arranged a swordfight for the interested parties, With a blunted sword for Hamlet and a sharp sword for La-ahrtes. And to make double sure the old belt and brace was lined, He fixed up a poison swordtip and a poison cup of wine. The poison sword got Hamlet, but Laertes went and fluffed it, 'Cause he got stabbed himself, and he confessed before he snuffed it.
Then Hamlet's mummy drank the wine, and as her face turned blue, Hamlet said, "I think this King's a baddie through and through! Well, incestuous, murderous, damned Dane!" he said, to be precise; Then made up for hesitating once by killing Claudius twice. 'Cause he stabbed him with his knife and forced the wine between his lips, And then he said, "The rest is silence," and he cashed in all his chips. They fired a volley over him that shook the topmost rafter, And then Fortinbras, knee-deep in Danes, lived happy ever after.
Hamlet, Hamlet, end of story, Hamlet, Hamlet, very gory, Hamlet, Hamlet, I'm on my way, And if you think that was confusing, you should read the bloody play!
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Juliet
Denizen
There's many a man hath more hair than wit.
Posts: 53
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Post by Juliet on Aug 2, 2002 2:05:25 GMT -5
Ah, Complete Wks of Shkspr Abridged....now that is genius! ( of a peculiar sort) VERY VERY VERY funny! The English history football match sticks out in my memory, as does the Othello rap (This is the story of a Moor, his name Othello/ he liked white women and he liked....green jello) or something to that effect, and Titus cooking show (I think it was Titus) and Ophelia drowning in a glass of water, and Romeo and Juliet (Call me but love, and.." "Call you what? ..Ok...Butt Love!!" and...well...everything. I've read a "Green Eggs and Hamlet" Dr. Seuss Hamlet that was sort-of amusing, too.
Speaking of parodies, I'm just waiting until Disney runs out of plot lines and starts stealing Shakespeare. They already used Hamlet in Lion King, and they totally corrupted Hunchback of Notre Dame (not to mention History...poor Pocahontas!) I'm just steeling myself for a happily-ever-after King Lear, where Cordelia and Lear are saved, Edmund plunges off a tower, and Regan and Goneril are wicked-stepsister comic relief. Or maybe a Romeo and Juliet where Romeo's pet pigeon comes flying in, out of breath, just in time to knock the poison from his hands, Juliet wakes up, the family is reunited, and everythings' peachy. *shudder* I'm probably being too gloomy, but I just wouldn't put it past them....
~Juliet~
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Post by Harry on Aug 5, 2002 19:24:29 GMT -5
Well...,
Considering what Disney did to the Brothers Grimm, I don't suppose that Shakespeare or history should take the threat lightly.
On the other hand, some years ago I recall listening to NPR commentary to the effect that "wasn't it nice that Disney was doing a real African story in the Lion King." Except that it might have been a real Japanese story. Or maybe Shakespeare (but the commentator didn't make the Hamlet connection). I couldn't help thinking that Disney HAD done real African stories back in the '50s. It was called The Song of the South. Joel Chandler Harris wrote down authentic folk stories of African-Americans (in atrocious--almost unreadable--dialect). The stories came from Africa, despite their Southern setting.
Mulan may have been somewhat more authentic history (or, at least, legendary history) than Pocahontas. Disney's story was completely ridiculous, but Fa Mulan really did turn back a Hun invasion of China (which may not have really happened--but the story is old). I believe I recall that the Chinese government liked Mulan.
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