MONKEYS ON A BIG BLUE SPINNING BALL (Parody of Funiculi Funicula)

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HISTORY OF THE SOURCE MATERIAL: FINICULI FINICULA

A journalist living in Castellmare di Sagabia, by the name of Peppino Turco talked a composer friend of his into writing the music for “Funiculi Funicula” as a sort of tongue-in-cheek commemoration of the opening of the first funicular on Mount Vesuvius. For those of you who didn’t get the memo, a funicular is a tram that runs on rails, which in this case was intended to take passengers to the top of Vesuvius for the fabulous views. Turco’s composer friend was Luigi Denza. He agreed to write the music and Turco penned the lyrics. Quite to their surprise, the song was wildly successful and the sheet music sold over a million copies in the first year.

Part of the appeal of the song may have been the fact that it sounded like an Italian folk song – so much so, that six years later Richard Strauss (German composer) heard the song while touring Italy and just assumed it was a traditional Neopolitan folk song and he used the song in an orchestral tone poem he was writing. He got sued for his troubles and lost, being forced by the courts to pay Denza a royalty. But Strauss wasn’t the only one who made that mistake. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the Russian composer who wrote “The Flight of the Bumble Bee,” among other things, also mistook Funiculi Funicula for a traditional folk song and used it in 1907 in one of his compositions. Other uses have included Cornettist Herman Bellstedt who used it as the basis for a theme and variations titled Napoli. Modernist composer Arnold Schoenberg arranged a version for ensemble in 1921 that was used in an episode of the TV sitcom Seinfeld. An instrumental version was also used in the Woody Allen film Broadway Danny Rose, where it is often played as background music. Parody Project joins the list with this commentary on cognitive dissonance, set to the very catchy tune of Funiculi Funicula.

LYRICS FOR “MONKEYS ON A BIG BLUE SPINNING BALL”
(Written by Don Caron)

CHORUS
Left wing right wing fighting all the time,
accusing each other of every type of crime.
But we will all go down together if we ever take a fall.
We’re just a bunch of monkeys on a big blue spinning ball.

VERSE
The Left and Right have quite a lot in common,
so we should be more considerate.
If nothing else then we can all agree that
the other guy is an idiot.
The right wing has a very strong position
because the Lord agrees with them.
The left cannot refute that supposition
as that would clearly be a sin.

CHORUS
Left wing right wing fighting all the time,
accusing each other of every type of crime.
But we will all go down together if we ever take a fall.
We’re just a bunch of monkeys on a big blue spinning ball.

VERSE
We think of politics like high school football;
Hurray for my team, too bad for yours.
Just make a comment someone disagrees with,
and they will scream and start some wars.
It’s said that is a fact of human function.
We must protect our own belief.
It is a state of permanent dysfunction
from which we can’t achieve relief.

CHORUS
Republicans and Democrats fighting for their views.
It’s fine to be wrong but it isn’t fine to lose.
We will all go down together if we ever take a fall.
We’re just a bunch of monkeys on a big blue spinning ball.

VERSE
Politics quite simply makes us stupid.
We must defend the party line.
It’s rough to have our loyalty disputed.
We keep it safe within a shrine.
Show the facts and then apply some logic and you will see hostility.
Resistance is completely anagogic. It’s true for you and true for me.

CHORUS
Politics are tribal and logic’s uninvolved.
It’s a conundrum that simply can’t be solved,
driven by a raw emotion that is running wild and free.
We might as well be in the jungle swinging from a tree.

Cognitive dissonance is shortening the fuse.
Pesky little facts that are clashing with our views.
When we’re focused on survival, We don’t want the truth at all.
We’re just a bunch of monkeys on a big blue spinning ball.
A big blue spinning ball.

COPYRIGHT 2017 Parody Project LLC