Everything Is Awesome when you Party In The CIA Once in a Lifetime and you’re just Free Fallin’!

Hello Monday peeps! Another weekend *poof!* gone too quickly! But since it is Monday, that of course means music! For this week, the theme is: “Novelty or Parody Songs”. Let’s get this parody party started!

Let’s start with Canadian identical twin sisters who were asked to record a song for The Lego Movie – they obliged, with a musical comedy trio delivering the rap breakdown. The song succeeds in both getting the listener super pumped up and spoofing it. The producer said:

“The directors requested something like that, and I think it fits in a smart way. It’s a mantra for everyone to get up and go to work and buy $30 cups of coffee. It’s an irritant. But after the transformation in the movie, when the characters learn to create, it becomes something bigger. And then at the ending it becomes kind of ironic.”

The twins signed on to record the song after hearing an early version, which didn’t yet have the musical comedies’ contribution. One sister said:

“It’s a crazy earworm. As someone who prides myself on being able to write things that are memorable and hooky, the second that we heard this song, I was astounded. Whether you like the song or not, whether you think it’s funny or annoying, there’s no denying that it’s a ridiculously hooky thing. As soon as you hear it, it never leaves your brain.”

Here’s Tegan and Sara featuring The Lonely Island with “Everything is AWESOME!!!”:

Next up is is a song about a CIA operative that parodies Miley Cyrus’ single, “Party in the U.S.A.”, turning it into a covert operations party. This artist knew from when it was first played on the radio that it had potential to be lampooned. He said:

“That’s one of those songs where once it became a huge hit, I thought, ‘This might be good for me to make fun of.’ I was looking at variations on a theme. I make lists of possible song concepts, and 99% of them are pretty bad, but for the one that works, I’m like, ‘Aha, that’s it!’ When I came up with ‘Party in the C.I.A.,’ I thought it was the right tone because the Miley Cyrus song is your typical bubblegum track. It’s fluffy and bright. It’s a good summer song, but it’s certainly not dark and twisted like mine is now. It was a good way to invert the tone and make this happy carefree song a bit more dark.”

Give a listen to Weird Al Yankovic with “Party In The CIA (Parody of “Party In The U.S.A. by Miley Cyrus)”:

Next up, this song is a cover by a favorite green character. Seriously, is there a weirder music video ever? We all feel like flailing our arms in the air out of exasperation sometimes. It’s a lot funnier when Kermit the Frog does it. Kermit doesn’t actually change the lyrics to the song, but I think his version is worthy of the theme this week.

Here’s Kermit the Frog with Talking Heads “Once in a Lifetime”:

Last, but certainly not least, this hysterical duo took on Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin'” on The Tonight Show. The duo breezed through a rough cut of the 1989 hit — which had far more lyrics about horses than the original version. Taking the actual last line of the first verse of “Free Fallin’” to its absurd extreme, one of the duo crooned indelibly clunky lines like “She loves flowers / And horses too / She likes football / But she really like horses,” and “She likes ponies / But not as much as horses / She likes horses much, much more.”

And every time the other half of the duo tried to jump in for the chorus, the other one prattled on until they finally reached the song’s climactic sing-along and belted together, “And I’m free! / Free horses!” It’s hilarious.

Without further ado, here’s the inimitable Kevin Bacon and Jimmy Fallon with Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’”:

That’s a wrap for this week – have a great Monday! See you on the dance floor!

Now onto the particulars of Monday’s Music Move’s Me:

I have the supreme honor and privilege of being a co-host with the inimitable Xmas Dolly and our musical cohort, the awesome Cathy from Curious as a CAThy, and Alana of Ramblin’ with AM!

Want to join in the fun? It’s easy – just find a tune that rocks your boat, post it and link up – don’t forget to grab Xmas Dolly…er, um, I mean her button…over at her place here. Check out Xmas Dolly’s sidebar for the random themes we sport each week – and you can always ask for a specific theme of music you like, too. Check out the other music lovahs and let’s jam!

Want to join in the fun? It’s easy – just find a tune that rocks your boat, post it and link up – don’t forget to grab Xmas Dolly…er, um, I mean her button…over at her place here. Check out Xmas Dolly’s sidebar for the random themes we sport each week – and you can always ask for a specific theme of music you like, too. Check out the other music lovahs and let’s jam!