Parody folk songs

Cafe Society
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There are parodies of folk song styles, like The Wreck of the Crash of the Easthill Mining Disaster being a riff on the ‘disaster song’. There are a lot of songs that make fun of folk singing in general.

Then there are parodies of particular songs, like Cosmic and Freaky being a parody of Pleasant and Delightful, or The Rolling Mills of New Jersey being a parody of The Rolling Hills of the Borders.

Lastly, there are songs that specifically address other songs, like (Nearly) The Wild Rover talking about how it sucks to play The Wild Rover so much.

Can anyone recommend other folk song parodies of the second type in particular? Or any good general folk parodies, for that matter? One billion bonus points if you know of a song with the line “she had a dark and roving eye, the other was pale and static”.

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Christopher Guest, in his NatLamp days, did, “Well-Intentioned Blues,” but I’m not sure which category that falls into.

Chevy Chase, also in his NatLamp days, did, “Colorado,” a John Denver spoof.

3

Speaking of Guest, the entire movie A Mighty Wind is a parody of the folk genre.

Speaking of NatLamp, Lemmings is a parody musical, not limited to folk, but inclusive.

4

Todd Snider’s Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues is a simultaneous parody of talking blues and the music industry, but it most closely mirror’s Dylan’s “I Shall be Free No. 10.”

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We are the Folk Song Army
Every one of us cares.
We all hate poverty, war, and injustice
(Unlike the rest o’ you squares).

T. Lehrer

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Concrete Road, a parody of Country Road.

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^ What time was it when Denver wrote, “Country Roads?”

Almost seven.

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To late to edit: I guess “Country Roads” is really a country rather than a folk song, so here’s Juanita Suarez, a parody of “Molly Malone”.

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All you really need to know is contained in the two words: “Allen Sherman.”

Sample here: Jump Down Spin Around (Pick a Dress of Cotton) (Parody of Bale of Cotton) - YouTube

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I’ve been trying to remember lately who did that. Thx.

“I’m going back to Athens.” That’ll work.

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“Generic Uptempo Folk Song” by the Limelighters.

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Apologies, I don’t know how to bung in a link in this editor on my phone in any other way than simply pasting…but Neil Innes’ Protest Song:

is what I assumed had inspired the thread when I read its title.

Tutorials on the above more than welcome.

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And now a word from our sponsor:

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It’s very tricky to untangle the sources and references correctly, but the way “Carrickfergus” is usually sung (and often quite earnestly, too) - with the usually-performed verses, I mean - makes it very close to a song that is its own parody already.

15

Then there’s Rickety Tickety Tin, a parody of Irish folk ballads. One of his earlier parodies from before he became a nationwide success.

16

Welcome to the exciting world of filk (the term first was appeared as a typo for “folk” in an article on science fiction conventions).

While filk music isn’t all parody, a lot of it is.

They have annual awards, of which the Pegasus Award is one of the biggest. Here’s the link to their site with the words to most of the winners: http://www.ovff.org/pegasus.html

Here’s Crystal Gayle Killed Frank Herbert by Tom Smith (the World’s Fastest Filker): Crystal Gayle Killed Frank Herbert | Tom Smith.

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The Smothers Brothers put their own twist on a lot of folk songs (for example, here’s The Saga of John Henry), though I’m not sure anything they did counts as a parody per se.

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Protest Song– Neil Innes

Folk Song–Bongwater

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My Body is Made of Sunlight. Perfect parody of the music I love. :slight_smile:

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Combine Harvester

Parody of Melanie’s “Brand new key”