O What Fun It Is To Write a Parody Tonight - by Susan Barclay

Summer is a challenging time for me to write. Kids are out of school and we are all out of our usual routines. That’s why it was only today, when it was my turn to post something on Inscribe, that I finally got down to business.

Like fellow Inscriber, Tracy Krauss, I’m an eclectic writer. I don’t really have a niche. I enjoy writing picture books, personal experience stories, short stories, and my current work-in-progress is a novel. So it’s kind of hard to find a genre I haven’t dipped my pen into, including poetry.

But at my house--and this isn’t unique to us, I’m sure—we’re very good at responding to situations by bursting into song or modifying songs that already exist. For example, to the tune of ‘O, What a Beautiful Morning,’ I might sing, “O what a beautiful puppy, O what a beautiful dog; O what a beautiful Jazzy, even though he’s a bed hog.”

For the record, our dog’s name is Jazz, and he is beautiful. But in case my mom is reading this, Mom, Jazz never gets up on the bed and cuddles with us. Never. It was just an example. Really.

Ahem.

Anyway, I thought I’d try writing a full parody for this month’s challenge. Since it’s fruit fly season and the pests are both bothersome and loathsome, I decided to switch the ‘I Hope you Dance’ song to ‘I Hope you Die’. Dark, I know, but there you have it.

Here are a few lines from the finished product:

I hope you starve because there’s nothing here to munch on
When the fridge door opens I hope you can’t get in
Promise me that you’ll lose heart and start to sigh
And when you get the choice to fly away or die
I hope you die…I hope you die.

Catchy, huh?

So, how did I feel about the experience? It was a challenge to write a whole song as opposed to just changing up a few lines, but I feel pretty positive about the first draft result. The exercise also got my creative juices flowing, which is never a waste of time or effort. Next time I’m feeling stuck, perhaps I’ll turn my brain and my pen toward a different genre for a moment to get out of whatever box I’m in. If nothing else, it may remind me that writing is not only challenging, but fun. And if it isn’t fun, why are we doing it?

Check out some parodies from the Christian band, Apologetix, at their youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/ApologetiXMusic

_________________

For more of my writing, visit www.susan-barclay.ca