Parodies for a pandemic: coronavirus songs, creativity and lockdown

Abstract

ABSTRACT One of the common responses to the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdowns that have been a feature of almost all countries has been the making of what have come to be called parodies. These are songs with new lyrics set to the tunes of established and well-known popular songs. The new lyrics describe life during the pandemic, the experience of isolation during lockdown, the importance of wearing masks and washing hands, the importance of social distancing when one is out. The pandemic parodies are a comment, sometimes jocular sometimes more anguished, on the new normal. They are posted on social media sites, mostly YouTube but also other sites such as TikTok, and invite comments from their audience about everything from the quality of the recording to the accuracy of the lyrics in reflecting people’s lives during this time. Some of these parodies are by semi-professional singers, others by amateurs. Most of the parodists are white males and most of the songs parodied are from the 1970s and 1980s, part of the cultural capital of Generation X. This article argues that calling these songs parodies invites misunderstanding. They function more like the ballads of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when new lyrics would be written to be sung to well-known tunes. Often these lyrics would be commentaries on significant public or political events. This article argues that the pandemic parodies function similarly only now rather than the new lyrics being sold in the streets by hawkers, the songs are available on the web. At a time when the popular music industry is undergoing a fundamental transformation as a consequence of the impact of new technologies such as streaming, these pandemic parodies suggest another transformation in the production and consumption of popular music.