'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Boogie Knights
By Baron Dave Romm
All Knowledge Is Contained On Bartcop-E. I have been unable to come up with a definitive answer to the question, "who owns the parodies?" I'm specifically looking for the issue as it relates to filk: Using a popular tune with unrelated lyrics and where the song is not directly commenting on the original. From some sources, I've heard that ASCAP and BMI treat parodies as covers, and new lyrics don't count in terms of ascribing rights. The original author of the song gets all the royalties for the use of the song, and the performer gets a smaller cut. The standard for parody, as opposed to cover, was set by 2 Live Crew's version of Pretty Woman which used chunks of the Roy Orbison song. Orbison's publishers sued, and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court, deciding in 2 Live Crew's favor. The parody was deemed a valid commentary on the original, which doesn't answer my question. 2 Live Crew gave proper attribution to the writers and publishers, but I don't know how the royalties were split. Does anyone out there in Bartcop-E Land know? If someone makes a filk song using Billy Joel's music, can Joel record the cover without mentioning (or paying) the filker? Send me e-mail, and I'll print the results next week.
Filk has now pervaded society -- well, my part of society: Science fiction fandom -- that it's spawned several sub-genres. For many years, the only place to hear filk was in live performances or on scratchy tapes of live performances. Tapes of original songs were sold, but traditional sing-along-because-you-know-the-tune parodies were not marketed because they couldn't afford the rights to the songs. I'm not entirely sure what's changed (hence my request, above), but more and more filkers are releasing CDs of parodies. Perhaps it was the success of Weird Al Yankovic (who was building on the success of Spike Jones etc etc) for non-sf audiences. Perhaps the shift to CDs over vinyl has made production affordable for low-budget enterprises like myself. Pretty much anyone can record audio, slap it on a CD, make a cover, and release the music to the world. So they did.
Renaissance Festivals and the Society for Creative Anachronism were always up for a good parody, largely because the songs they were using were hundreds of years old and copyright issues didn't matter much. RenFest Filk (to coin a term) popped up now and again, but mostly as individual novelty songs on serious albums.
Boogie Knights are having fun. They smash both traditions. Not only are all their CD filled with parodies (with an original or two), but the parodies are of modern songs (ie songs under copyright, for which they carefully give attribution). The upside to Boogie Knights is the gorgeous vocal arrangements and beautiful harmony of the ensemble. The parody lyrics are good and fit the original very well: Half the skill in writing good filk is finding the right hook, often the first line. They are enjoying themselves tremendously, and you can hear it. I bet they're great live. The website sells songbooks, and who wouldn't buy them after hearing a concert? The downside to Boogie Knights is that they too often need more rehearsal (perhaps a taskmaster for a CD producer). Mostly, the songs are accompanied by solo guitar and percussion with kazoo (or kazoos) tossed in. This probably works on stage at a Renaissance Festival, but doesn't always come off on a CD. The singers are good enough that the kazoo adds to the song... sometimes. Somebody in the group should learn to play penny-whistle or another guitar. Again, this probably works better live, and even on the CD the joy is infectious.
Their first album, Cavalier Attitude, from 2001, is endearing right from the start. The first cut is Dragon Feeds Tonight, a parody of one of my favorite songs, The Lion Sleeps Tonight. The last cut is Arthurian Pie, a parody of American Pie and almost as long. It details the King Arthur legend. Like the original, it's good but the length is daunting for a casual listen. In between are songs from ecletic sources: The Carpenters, Billy Joel, Schoolhouse Rock and The Ramones. My two favorite cuts are (Man of) La Mancha, a parody of La Bamba (a subject I have explored in the skit The Possible Dream, on Laughter Is A Powerful Weapon Vol. 2 and from me as part of Let's Play Doctor) and Exclamations, a parody of Schoolhouse Rock's Interjections.
Their second album, Oh The Horror is also from 2001 and deals mainly with vampires with an occasional song about Medusa or the Werewolf. Like Folk Underground, they treat the subject with respect. Almost love. Castle Transylvania, to Hotel California and Put A Wooden Stake Through His Heart, to Put A Little Love In Your Heart, will keep you close to your garlic. While it's a weak song, I'll mention ('Tis Only) Leprosy because Weird Al parodied the same song as I Lost On Jeopardy. My collection of popular song for which I have two different parodies and not the original is growing again, after a flurry of picking up pop albums. As is often the case with filk, a lot of the enjoyment of the parody is at least partially dependent on how much you like the original, and they do a good job with one of my favorites. She's A Medusa is a parody of the I'm A Believer: "And then I saw her face...."
Hysterically Inaccurate takes them up to 2004 and you can hear their development as the material ranges wider, and includes a couple of originals. They try harder, and the arrangements are more complex, but their timing is a bit off and this is their least professional CD. The last song, D and D, is a parody of T.N.T and is a hard rock ballad of a gaming adventure using electric intruments. The Roman Legion could have used S.P.Q.R., a parody of YMCA, for recruiting. The title is Latin, but the song is in English. The original Buccaneer Rap, almost a cappella with a drum and backing vocals, is more of holler than a rap, but what the heck. The Anarchy/Monarchy Song is a delicious takeoff on The Authority Song; someday I'll play them back to back. Song topics range from catapults to a foxy Philistine to fighting in a Mail-Clad Melee. My favorite song on the CD, perhaps my favorite Boogie Knight song so far, is Irish Samurai, a parody of the traditional Wild Rose:
of Mythic Distortions is their most recent CD, from 2005, and the most complete. The performances are tighter and the parody songs are even stranger. Gandalf Got Molested by a Balrog is a parody of Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. Think about that for a second: A parody of... oh, never mind. It's been done before (I think), but not about characters from Lord of the Rings. Arthur Rex Was King, a fun doo-wop to Rock and Roll Is King, complete with a great introduction. Zombies insist People Are Tasty, a parody of People Are Strange. They can't recreate the Doors, but at least they whistle instead of kazoo. Another appropriate parody is Xena, bouncing off Venus. Listed as original, but sounding very much like Ghost Riders In The Sky, Zombie Pete is Country/Western and B-Movie at the same time. They once again pander to my taste with Odyssey, a remarkably concise retelling of the Homeric epic to the tune of The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle. Shao-lin Temple Garden, a parody of Octopus' Garden, mostly works if you remember the tv show Kung Fu. The gods and pyramid builders of Old Egypt get a Caribbean treatment from a parody of Kokomo:
I love Boogie Knights. They're fearless and expressive, and we have similar taste in music. They tackle sf/fantasy themes with gorgeous harmonies and a pellucid ear. If you can stand the occasional missed cue and an over-reliance on kazoo, you'll like them too. Highly recommended for filkers or bardic circle participants, or if you like the entertainers at Renaissance Festivals. If you don't want to gobble all of them at once, I recommend starting with the most recent, of Mythic Distortions.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts being reworked. Recent radio programs can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
--////
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