Parodies Found


You can blame this one on kismet, my sister, and Tim Rice & Alan Menken, in no particular order.

'Aladdin' soundtrack CD art of the Genie rising from his lamp holding a picture of Jasmine and Aladdin on their magic carpet

In 1992, Disney’s creative rebirth continued with Aladdin. The Little Mermaid was
an unexpected animated delight, and Beauty and the Beast was romantic, funny, and just plain lovely — deserving of its Best Picture nomination — but for all its problems Aladdin may be my favorite Disney neo-classic.

Some time after it came out, I was moved to rewrite Tim Rice’s lyrics to “A Whole New World”, the romantic theme from the movie scored by Alan Menken, recorded for the pop charts by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle, sung in the film by Brad Kane as Aladdin (in the guise of “Prince Ali”) and Lea Salonga as Jasmine. I’m pretty sure that
it all began with the first line.

The chorus of “Eyes of a Primate” that I came up with off the cuff and included in a
Lost post last month
, inspired by Claire’s squirrel-bones baby, got quite a reaction. My sister keeps telling me it’s genius, which is flattering if kind-of expected since our senses of humor are so in tune. Last weekend she brought it up again and added my “Whole New World” parody to the conversation; as fate would have it, I just recently uncovered a copy of my hand-written lyrics to that old thing while going through a box of random papers.

What should be posted here is a recording of the song that I made with a friend, but that tape got lost years ago. So to get the full effect you’ll have to find a karaoke version of the song online or just play the original softly. Note: While I’d briefly posted my lyrics as-is from 1993, they seemed out of date in referring to videotapes, so I took the liberty of also doing a slight polish on the lyrics to update them for the Age of DVDs
and Streaming Content.

Aladdin’s lines are in regular type with movie titles in italics, and Jasmine’s lines are
the reverse. When both are singing the counterpoint is in parentheses. Now, without further ado, Blam’s Blog proudly presents...



“A Whole New World”
— Digital Reprise


I can show you Wayne’s World,
Hamlet, or South Pacific
Wouldn’t it be terrific
Streaming videos galore?

I can play JFK,
Casablanca, or Star Trek
You can give up the far trek
To your local rental store

A whole new world
An endless cache of films to view
Now we don’t have to go
To see a show
Or find out what’s on cable

A whole new world
Of
Peter Pan and Die Hard II
Movies I’ve never seen
Are on the screen
At your place and I’ll watch them all with you

(Yes I want to watch them all with you)

Let’s see Wizard of Oz,
E.T., Beaches, or Tootsie
Cuddle up and play footsie
On the sofa in your den

A whole new world
(Don’t you dare close your eyes)
Of Rocky, Rambo,
(I liked Connery better)
and James Bond
We’ll down a couple beers
Watch both
Cape Fears
Then drift to sleep before
On Golden Pond

A whole new world (You’ll believe Chris Reeve flies)
Of Henry Fifths (They’re a great double-header)
both old and new

We’ll check out Being There
And Scrooged and Hair
Let me share this whole new world with you

A whole new world
On my TV
Forget the phone
Watch Home Alone
Just you and me



Lyrics copyright 1993, 2011 Brian Saner Lamken, based on lyrics written by Tim Rice
to music composed by Alan Menken and copyright 1992 Walt Disney Productions. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce or perform these lyrics is granted only in
non-commercial contexts and only if proper copyright attribution is given; no liability is assumed regarding potential infringement against the copyright holder of the music to which the lyrics are set.



Related: Jawn of Justice Feed Me Rewrite They’re Magically Suspicious

15 comments:

  1. Oh my werd. This is amazing. We make parodies of songs all the time at our house, but this one just takes the cake. (What is sad is the fact that I could sing the whole thing through, why yes, I do have the Aladdin soundtrack memorized, why do you ask.)

    Thanks for sharing :)

    VW: cougerfu - what vegetarian cougars eat

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  2. You'll believe Chris Reeve flies
    Not only was this brilliant, but it actually choked me up a little. Good job, Blam.

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  3. We make parodies of songs all the time at our house, but this one just takes the cake.
    You can have the cake back, SM; I'm trying to lose weight.
    Thanks for sharing :)
    My pleasure!

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  4. Not only was this brilliant, but it actually choked me up a little.
    I know what you mean — well, the latter part; "brilliant" is a little much, but appreciated. 8^)

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  5. I love Aladdin! This is a great song, Green Eggs and Blam.

    I can't let it go, Blam! Jeez! Let me have this, would you!?

    Heh, playing Footsie while watching Tootsie. I enjoy things that rhyme! *claps hands over her head*

    VW: Psysi - The technical term for feeling pissy.

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  6. Brilliant and hilarious indeed.

    I think my favorite parts were the parenthetical asides ("I liked Connery better), which, yes, I was able to sing alongside the main lyrics because I know the song far too well.

    I love Aladdin, but I can't call it my favorite of the neo-classics (that'd be Little Mermaid). I blame it on Robin Williams. I can't stand the man's schtick, and the Genie's schtick is almost entirely Williams' schtick.

    Plus, it bugs me how anachronistic some of the Genie stuff is, like when he makes airline jokes a few hundred years too early.

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  7. LOL! that first line is going to be stuck in my head now every time I watch Aladdin. Thank you very much.

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  8. *stares intently*

    Moons Over My Blammy

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  9. Wait... Is that just a pun, Long Joan Silver, or are you staring intently, mooning over me, and referring to me by a pet name? 'Cause if it's the latter, G.I. Joan, I'll have to tell Sayid, Evil Blam's comments, your husband the foot fetishist, and heck only knows who else. You zombie chicks really get around. Horticulturalist!

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  10. Have you ever swapped body parts with anyone, by the way? (And I ask that in a purely zombicentric sense, Dirty Girl.) There's definitely a Joan Armatrading joke in there somewhere, you see.

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  11. Ha! I was likening you to my second favorite dish, after Evil Blam of course; Moons Over My Hammy.

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  12. Which in itself is a play on words for 'Moon Over Miami'! Holy crap, I am incredible.

    A pun is the lowest form of humor, Joan.

    Which makes the excessive use of them funny, Jerk! Who invited that guy?

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  13. Everyone knows puns are the HIGHEST form of comedy...but not everyone can admit it. I, for one, can.

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  14. Haha... I stumbled upon this by accident and am glad I did. Very nice, Blam.

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