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Song Parodies -> "Do You Hear The People Scream?"
Original Song Title:
"Do You Hear The People Sing?"
(MP3)Original Performer:
Cast of Les Miserables
Parody Song Title:
"Do You Hear The People Scream?"
Parody Written by:
Ralph E. Shaffer
The Lyrics
This parody is sardonic, not intended to be funny. If I were producing Les Miz, a group of war protesters would show up beyond the barricades, between police and students, singing this version in place of the original, their peace banners flying in the breeze as they hand out No War leaflets. The firing begins, the barricades turn, and when the guns fall silent the street is littered with fallen protesters, shot by police and students. The tattered NO WAR banner hangs limp from its posts.
Do you hear the people scream?
That is the sound of dying men,
Women and children being slaughtered
Here in freedom's name again.
When the beating of a heart
Stops with a greeting from your guns
That is a life that will depart
'ere tomorrow comes.
-------------
Will you stop this mad crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Why die on barricades
For a world that cannot be?
Why join in a fight
That puts people to flight
They're not free!
-------------
Do you hear the people scream?
That is the sound of dying men,
Women and children being slaughtered
Here in freedom's name again.
When the bleating from the right
Echoes the tweeting from the left
There's sure to be a bloody fight
'ere tomorrow comes.
-------------
When you've given all you can
You'll be buried in a plot.
Politicians to a man
Will spit out patriotic rot.
But the graves of the fallen
Will be a cold warning to all.
---------
Do you hear the people scream?
That is the sound of dying men,
Women and children being slaughtered
Here in freedom's name again.
When the beating of a heart
Stops with a greeting from your guns
That is a life that will depart
'ere tomorrow comes.
reshaffer@csupomona.edu
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Voting Results
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Voting Breakdown
The following represent how many people voted for each category.
| Pacing | How Funny | Overall Rating | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||||||
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||||||||
| 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
User Comments
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I don't use the 555 vote system, because, as you say, there is nothing funny about this song, nor its subject. What I can say is "Wow". One of the best anti-war songs ever posted at AIR. Flawless, and the scenario you envision is being enacted every day in the streets of Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan, and a hundred other hell-holes on this tattered planet. If there is anyone out there with the means to record and disseminate this one, please!
Thank you, Patrick. I can't even find a folk singer who will perform the song. I hope someone reads your comment and sings it in public.
Your introduction also brings out an important fact about war. The combatant hates his enemy, of course, but not so much as he despises those from "his" side who refuse to take part in the hostilities. The first example that came to my mind: compare the treatment of German soldiers captured in WWI by US soldiers to that of Mennonites and Quakers arrested in the United States for failure to register for the draft. I just reread your parody. The next to last stanza is magnificent. Anyone considering joining the armed forces should first visit a VA hospital.
This is amazingly well done! Even though there is a lot of the original lyrics it works perfectly here, and the slight manipulations of the original words to become anti-War is creative. Def 555!
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