If you can, listen to parodies of the same genre of music that you are thinking of writing a parody for. For example, if you want to write a pop parody, listen to pop parodies.
Knowing your audience will help you narrow down what sort of song to write a parody for.
“White and Nerdy” by Weird Al Yankovic “What Makes You Beautiful” by The Key of Awesome “The Star Wars I Used to Know” by Teddie Films
Pick a song, then write new lyrics about the subject. Educational parodies are often written by teachers or coaches for their students
To find examples of genre parodies, look up “Deathklok” or “The Lonely Island. "
Pick a song with a distinct chorus and verses. The more separate and obvious the verses and choruses of a song are, the easier it will be to write your parody. The chorus can be repeated multiple times, and you’ll only need to write new words for the verses. Pick a song you like. Parody writers generally admire the songs that they parody, and decide to make them funnier. You’ll also have to listen to the song many times to write the lyrics, so don’t pick a song that you dislike.
Think about potential substitutes. The kind of lyrics you’ll want to write obviously depend on your sense of humor and the type of song, but there are different things you can look out for. Listen for words in the chorus that could be substituted for other words, especially if the new words are silly or ridiculous: “Sugar” by Maroon 5 might become “Booger”, while “Hotline Bling” by Drake could become “Burger King”.
Change a word to something silly to generate your theme. Once you have one funny word, like “Booger” instead of “Sugar” or “Burger King” instead of “Hotline Bling”, build the rest of the song around it. “Burger King” could be about working at a Burger King or going on a late night run for fast food, while “Booger” could turn into a story about gross bodily functions. Make up a story. If you haven’t found any substitute words yet, simply make up your own topic. The more off the wall it is, the funnier your parody will be. “Work” by Rihanna could become a story about hating your job, while “Trap Queen” by Fetty Wap could turn into a story about a female fur trapping expert from Alaska. Write educational content with a sense of humor. Write a Christian-Pop-style song about Charles Darwin or a song about geology to the tune of “I Love Rock and Roll. " Make sure to include all of the information you want to teach in your educational song: the catchier it is, the easier the material will be to remember.
Remember your target audience too; it won’t make any sense to parody a classic rock song if none of your audience is old enough to remember AC/DC or Queen.
If you’re a musician, record or make the track yourself. If you make the track, you’ll have a little more creative control over your parody. You’ll be able to ham up silly elements of a genre, like long breakdowns or over-the-top synthesizer choruses.
Make fun of the subject matter. Flight of the Concords and The Lonely Islands are two bands that love to parody stupid or silly lyrics and subject matter: check out their parodies for some examples. [7] X Research source The more vapid, meaningless or over-the-top the subjects and lyrics of your chosen genre, the easier they will be to make fun of. Parody the attitudes and actions of the genre’s performers. Acts like Dethklok, The Rutles and Spinal Tap are great examples of this. All poke fun at the way that their genre’s performers sing, act and view the world. The Rutles, for example, performed in a feature called “All You Need is Cash,” making fun of the Beatles commercialization. Dethklok parodies metal musicians hyper masculinity, violence and anger in the show Metalocalypse. Note that these more elaborate parodies often involve dressing and acting like the musicians, so they will be more effective if you make a music video for your parody or play a live gig. Parody aspects of the music. Every genre has memorable and unique musical characteristics make them easy to parody. For example, you might parody excessively long guitar solos in classic rock songs, corny saxophone runs in an 80s ballad, or apocalyptic sounding rap beats.
Consider unexpected topics. Some parodies are humorous because they introduce topics you didn’t expect in a specific category. For example, Mac Sabbath perform songs in the style of Black Sabbath, but sing about fast food. [8] X Research source You might consider writing a gangster rap song about working in an office or an easy listening song about a crazy party.
In general, song parodies will require more attention to detail, while genre parodies only have to fit the backing track.
If you are more of a digital person, then you can do this on the computer using a word editing program, such as Notepad or Microsoft Word.
Pay attention to the line breaks. Don’t write everything out in a single paragraph. Try to keep each sentence in its own line.
If you write separate verses in a random order, the plot of your song may not make sense.
Match the rhythm and flow of the lyrics, and don’t try to cram too many words into a single phrase. More words may help you tell your story, but it won’t sound much like the original song. Try to rhyme your lyrics with the actual song. While it may be really difficult, try to rhyme the words in your song with the words in the real song. This will help it sound more like the original. Use a rhyming dictionary if you get stuck.
Don’t be afraid to ham it up a little bit for comedic effect.
Find an official instrumental. If you’re parodying a current song, you’ll often be able to find an instrumental of the backing track on the artist’s album or website. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, search online for the instrumental on Soundcloud or Youtube. DJs and electronic artists often get exclusive copies of the tracks and share them. [13] X Research source Use a karaoke track. While karaoke tracks can sound a little corny or canned, they might work well enough for what you want to make. Search karaoke archives or websites for the track that you need. You may have to pay for these tracks, however. [14] X Research source Edit your own instrumental. It may be possible to edit the lyrics out of the song you want to parody. Certain plugins for audio editing software can remove vocals, or you can cut and paste sections of a song with no lyrics to make a word-free version. The quality of your product will depend a lot on your editing skills and the type of song. [15] X Research source Play the song on your own instruments. If you’re skilled with a guitar, piano or other instruments, make your own backing track. Record and edit it before you lay down vocals to make sure that you have the verses and choruses in the right places.
Edit your recording. Do a few takes of your vocals and then pick and choose which are best. You can edit together better performances of verses and choruses to make the best recording possible.
If you upload on Youtube, consider making a music video to complement your parody. Many popular Youtube videos are parodies, and their videos are as funny as their songs. Buy or borrow a good camera, film and edit a video to go with your song to create an even bigger impression.
