Vakkotaur

A week or two ago I got a call from jugularjaguar. I guess he's desperate for panels and panelists for RCFM since he asked me if I'd be willing to be on a filk panel. Perhaps I should not have, but I agreed. It's not as if I write* or perform such tunes. I just prefer parodies of many tunes over the original tunes. I will not be offended if such a panel is dropped entirely, or if I am dropped from such a panel. However, neither am I actively seeking to escape it. I said I'd do it, and so I will. I did warn jugularjaguar that I might not do it very well.

My awareness of fondness for song parodies comes from Spike Jones and various things heard on the Dr. Demento show when I could hear it. That included Tom Lehrer and Weird Al Yankovic. There was also the political satire of Mark Russell and later the Capitol Steps. Most parody tunes are more interesting to me than the songs they started from. Sometimes good tunes are given a slight boost and sometimes rather ho-hum tunes are given an overhaul. Some tunes get outright mocked: Achy Breaky Heart has a few parodies, almost any of which are a vast improvement over the original. Or at least I think so.

And now the silly spotty cat goes and commits one himself. I've already suggested to him that perhaps he should be on the panel, to lend it a bit more credibility.

* At times I have tried to write song parodies, but have seldom gotten very far. This can be attributed to either a lack of persistence or to having the good sense to know when to stop pursuing a flawed idea.