# Are there any songs you can't listen to without thinking of a parody? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 28, 2021, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045 "2021-11-28T05:44:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/1 "2021-11-28T05:44:06Z")
I don’t think it was intentional, but Shatner’s rendition of “Rocket Man” sure does it for me. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lul-Y8vSr0I/hqdefault.jpg "William Shatner "Sings" 'Rocket Man' (1978) - BEST QUALITY!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lul-Y8vSr0I) Ditto for Stewie’s version: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi8MI7jjpSY) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/2 "2021-11-28T05:50:54Z")
I always want More Cow Bell nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/3 "2021-11-28T06:10:07Z")
I was never a Michael Jackson or Madonna fan so whenever I hear certain songs of their’s I’m expecting the words from the Weird Al parodies. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/4 "2021-11-28T07:49:53Z")
Never understood why Englebert Humperdink didn’t get the gears a bit more, like [Please Release Me.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdRh1_ghkmI) Surely _Quando Quando Quando_ has been riffed on somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/5 "2021-11-28T08:53:40Z")
I believe Suzanne Vega has recorded Condo Condo Condo. So at least one professional riff. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/6 "2021-11-28T12:20:32Z")
Some classical music starts me singing along, such as Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” vs Allan Sherman’s “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah”. or Bizet’s “Toreadors” from the opera “Carmen”: “Oh Theodora, don’t spit on the floor-a, use the cuspidor-a, that’s what it’s a-for-a”. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/7 "2021-11-28T12:45:24Z")
If you lived in the Washington DC area between 1982 and 1990 (as I did), chances are you were exposed to the Greaseman radio program. Doug “Greaseman” Tracht is the morning DJ who was hired to replace Howard Stern when he was fired from his DC gig. He did something called “[The Tuna Fish Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6og0uLKOqAI)” which was sung to the tune of Mozart’s “[Rondo alla Turca](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeEmGvm7kDk).” Sadly, I’m more familiar with the Grease’s version than any other, and I’ve seen **Amadeus** on film and stage. And most of my DC-area generational peers are likely the same. Greaseman was fired _twice_ from the station, DC-101, for some ill-considered jokes about Black people. He briefly worked at a rival station and was fired from there, too. Not sure what he’s up to these days. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/8 "2021-11-28T12:51:23Z")
PDQ Bach (Peter Shikele) ruined Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik for me. And I’ll second Michael Jackson (Bad, especially), thanks to Weird Al. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/9 "2021-11-28T13:22:37Z")
if it doesn’t have to be a professional parody. My friend and I came up with a parody for part of Billy Don’t Be a Hero. The soldier blues were trapped in a toilet The water raging all around The sergeant cried, We’ve got to hang on, boys! We’ve got to hold this piece of poop (we were good boys) I need a volunteer to ride down And bring us back some excrement ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/10 "2021-11-28T14:24:41Z")
Gangsters paradise. Then Weird Al’s Amish paradise goes through my head rest of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Mortimus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mortimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mortimus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/11 "2021-11-28T14:49:02Z")
Every time I hear Beach Boys “Kokomo” my (sick?) mind hears the lyrics of Bob & Tom’s “Camel Toe”. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/12 "2021-11-28T17:16:11Z")
There was a guy from Cleveland on my floor in the dorm back in college, who had a tape of a parody of Gary Numan’s “Cars” that some local DJ had done. Forty years later, I still can’t hear that music without the lyrics to “Bars” popping into my head. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/13 "2021-11-28T17:22:27Z")
Not strictly parodies, but Rachmaninoff was so schmaltzy in his own right that Eric Carman’s _Never Gonna Fall in Love Again_ and _All By Myself,_ and Billy Wilder’s _Seven Year Itch_ “It shakes me! It quakes me! It makes me feel goose-pimply all over!” put him were he really lives in the popular imagination. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/14 "2021-11-28T17:46:40Z")
Definitely “King of Pain” by The Police. The lyrics of Weird Al’s “King of Suede” overwhelm me whenever I hear it. I have to change the station of FF through it. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/15 "2021-11-28T17:58:36Z")
Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit! I love Survivor’s “The Eye of the Tiger”. But Weird Al’s “The Rye or the Kaiser” is easier to remember. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/16 "2021-11-28T18:25:50Z")
The _William Tell Overture_ probably ought to be mentioned. It is of course the theme to _The Lone Ranger._ ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/17 "2021-11-28T18:36:09Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > And I’ll second Michael Jackson (Bad, especially), thanks to Weird Al. For me, it’s “Beat It”/“Eat It.” Also, when I hear Escape Club’s “Wild, Wild West,” my brain wants to substitute the parody lyrics from “Adam West.” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/FdVJWyoncdU/hqdefault.jpg "Wally Wingert's "Adam West"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdVJWyoncdU) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/18 "2021-11-28T18:37:06Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > Definitely “King of Pain” by The Police. The lyrics of Weird Al’s “King of Suede” overwhelm me whenever I hear it. I have to change the station of FF through it. “There’s a gabardine suit on sale today…it’s 30% off from yesterday…” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/19 "2021-11-28T18:41:01Z")
“Weird” Al songs I think of before I think of the original: **White and Nerdy** - I had never heard of Ridin’ Dirty and Al’s version is much better and smarter. **Amish Paradise** - Oh, I know Coolio’s song. I can not help, however, singing Amish Paradise when I heard that opening beat. There are others that are close(Fat instead of Bad), but those two above are immediate for me. In fact, White and Nerdy seems like a much more well known song than Ridin’ Dirty, but that may be the people I know. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2021, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045/20 "2021-11-28T18:45:14Z")
I can’t hear “Rock Me, Amadeus” without thinking Eat me, I’m a danish. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/4ukrCvhxP2g/hqdefault.jpg "Eat Me, I'm a Danish") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ukrCvhxP2g) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-you-cant-listen-to-without-thinking-of-a-parody/955045.md?page=2)