I remember “Golden Shower of Hits.” That cracked me up.
I have to vote for Weird Al too. My favorite early song of his was “Another One Rides the Bus” (after Another One Bites the Dust by Queen) an ode to the Los Angeles public buses, back when they were called the RTD.
“In Living Color” did some great song/video parodies on their show, my favorite was MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This”
Not exactly a parody, but Paul Simon’s “A Simple Desultory Phillipic” has the lines:
“When you say Dylan, he thinks you’re talking about Dylan Thomas–whoever he was. The man ain’t got no culture.”
What’s terrible is there’s a car dealer near me who uses old songs with new lyrics:
“Lord, won’t you buy me a Mustang GT. My friends all drive Escorts; they’re getting 3.3 [%] !”
These things stick in your head like taffy.
Julie
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Cledus Judd, country music’s answer to Weird Al Yankovic.
Among his many parodies:
Shania Twain: “If You’re Not in It for Love (I’m Outta Here)” into "I’m Not in Here for Love (Just Yer Beer).
Deana Carter:“Did I Shave My Legs For This” into “Did I Shave My Back for This?”
He has also skewered material by the Dixie Chicks, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Faith Hill, Billy Gilman and even Kid Rock and Ricky Martin.
I’ve always been partial to Jimmy Fallon’s Halloween song parodies on SNL:
“Thank you candy corn,
Thank you Mike & Ike,
Thank you, tha-hank you, Smar-TAH HAYS!”
And then there’s Pinkard and Bowden, another country duo, who turned “Help Me Make It Through The Night” into “Help Me Make It Through The Yard” and “Mama, He’s Crazy” into “Mama, She’s Lazy”.
I’m a big Weird Al fan too!
One question - is the Dr. Demento show still on the air?
Yes, Dr. Demento is still on the air. His website is www.drdemento.com. I was hoping there was info there on where and when he can be found, but
I used to be a member of The Demento Society; I really should re-join just so that I can once again carry a card in my wallet certifying that I am Demented (although my wife says she’d known that long before I got the card).
I’m a big fan of parody music, and am glad to have some more sources to track down from this thread. (Oh, and it’s Cletus T. Judd - another of my favorites.)
No, it really is Cledus T. Judd. You can verify that HERE.
That’s what happens when I stay up till 2am after only getting five hours of sleep the previous night. My brain goes into lockdown and I start shoehorning middle initials into people’s names. :smack:
What makes this one extraspecially good is that each sentence is a palindrome.
Hard to pick the best. Among my favorites: Tom Lehrer’s “So Long Mom, I’m Off to Drop the Bomb”.
Nobody’s mentioned Stan Freberg? His “Heartbreak Hotel” is classic. “Banana Boat Song” is funny, but it’s more of a sketch about the song.
I abjectly apologize for nitpicking, but I think it’s “feets”. IIRC it goes on, “Wenceslaus [Wenceslaw?] lay round about/Nine and ten, eleven”. AFAIK it stops there, alas.
“99 Dead Baboons” by Tim Cavanaugh. Very surrealistic and funny.
User-maintained List of Stations Broadcasting The Dr. Demento Show. You’ll find this and lots of other info on the usenet newsgroup rec.music.dementia. The shows are posted weekly by users to alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.comedy and alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.dr_demento. Vintage shows (repeats) are now broadcast on the XM satellite network.
British readers may recall “The Folkster”: a dig at the folksong scene, sung by Jasper Carrott among others, based on Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer”:
“I am Lead-Fingers Carrott and my story’s seldom told;
I massacre folk music with a yard of German plywood and a capo
<snip>
I’m like the rest;
I’ve had problems with my sex life since I fell and sprained my wrist,
And my other songs are twice as bad as this”.
Wow, that Weird Al song is pretty bizarre. Alas, “Ma is as selfish as I am” isn’t a palindrome. 
?! How did they do that!
I sang a Christmas song that wove “Good King Wenceslas” with “Yankee Doodle,” - both in words and melody. The words never went with the right tune. The choir director was supposed to get all frustrated. 
What, no mention of Bob Rivers yet?
Lots to choose from here - off the cuff faves would be “A Big Ton o Moola”, “Bought it Up” and “They Call Him Vetter”.
“The Saga Begins” IMHO is Weird Al at his best…