What are the sources of these poem/song parodies?

December 8, 2017 1:46 PM

In the John M. Ford short-story collection From the End of the Twentieth Century, there's a piece that had previously only been published in chapbooks as gifts to his friends, called "A Little Scene to Monarchize." It is a parody (really multiple parodies) of Shakespeare's Wars of the Roses plays. I don't recognize most of the parodies. If anyone can help with any of this, I would be MUCH OBLIGED.

Interspersed with general expositive iambic pentameter, we have Katherine of Valois's monologue (or solo, whichever) set to "Adelaide's Lament" from Guys and Dolls. The source is indicated in the text, but is also easily recognizable if the reader has passing familiarity with musical theater. We also have Richard III performing "A Usurper's Lot is Not a Happy One," recognizable to Gilbert and Sullivan fans as "A Policeman's Lot is Not a Happy One."

Other than those, I can't place the original sources of the following bits:

1) Henry VI singing "Harry's Blues." This is (I'm guessing) based on a famous blues song with which I have no familiarity.

Excerpt:

When my daddy went to France
He kicked the Dauphin in the pants
And brought us half the country home as ours
They told me Dick Plantagenet
Would manage it
Advantage it
But now we've said our au revoirs
Now I know I'm not the fellow
That my famous father was
They say that England's crown lies heavy
And it does.

2) Edward IV appears to be written to the scansion of a relatively modern poem that I don't know.

Excerpt:

I am the King now, and I want a sandwich.
This monarch business makes a fellow hungry.
I wonder where my brother Richard is.

What happened to the kippers left from breakfast?
Or maybe there's a bit of cold roast pheasant.
I am the King now, and I want a sandwich.

3) Henry VI performing something based on either a song or a poem with which I have no familiarity.

Excerpt:

Hello there. I'm the King,
Now that Richard is gone.
We shall all call him Crookback
From this moment on.
In the histories we'll
Be agreeing upon
I am going to have it my way.

Thanks in advance, MetaFilter!

posted by tzikeh to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

I have this collection, and I love it ("Riding the Hammer" is probably my favourite.)

The Edward VI is a standard villanelle; I don't think it's meant to parody any particular other poem. For anyone interested, the full text is here at Making Light.

I don't know the original songs of the other two, but I'll do some ferreting.
posted by Pallas Athena at 2:49 PM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

I was going to suggest posting on Making Light; he was a regular over there and a personal friend of many, and it’s a crowd that does threads full of pastiches like that, and they catch all the references. There is usually an open thread in progress.
posted by tchemgrrl at 3:11 PM on December 8, 2017

#3) is likely Cole Porter's "From This Moment On."
posted by thomas j wise at 3:35 PM on December 8, 2017

Response by poster: #3) is likely Cole Porter's "From This Moment On."

Nope -- complete lack of scansion.
posted by tzikeh at 4:19 PM on December 8, 2017

Does #3 have any kind of title or lead-in?
posted by peppercorn at 5:11 PM on December 8, 2017

Response by poster: Does #3 have any kind of title or lead-in?

Enter Mr. Thos. Middleton, much remark'd author of A Game at Chess (and Gaolbird therefor), as King Henry the Seventh, bearing arms of a frisket knife argent and pencil azure, palewise upon a field of shredded documents, bendwise sinister the motto, CLASSIFIED, gules.
posted by tzikeh at 5:26 PM on December 8, 2017

1) seems like a parody of Noël Coward lyrics
posted by Hypatia at 8:34 PM on December 8, 2017