Making fun of music, one song at a time. Since the year 2000.
Check out the two amIright misheard lyrics books including one book devoted to misheard lyrics of the 1980s.
(Toggle Right Side Navigation)

Song Parodies -> "Jersey Thursday"

Original Song Title:

"Friday On My Mind"

 (MP3)
Original Performer:

The Easybeats

Parody Song Title:

"Jersey Thursday"

Parody Written by:

Tommy Turtle

The Lyrics

Fun Trivia: In 2001, TOS was voted "Best Australian Song Of All Time" by the Australian Performing Rights Association, as determined by a panel of 100 music industry personalities. ("Waltzing Matilda", formerly "the unofficial national anthem of Australia", skulks away, tail between legs... ;) No argument here: always been a fave for its high-energy, can't-wait message (who could? ;)

OS video here.

Song being reworked: "Jersey Thursday".

Tiny piece of colored glass
Very strange place to be born, she
Lots of golds and reds and yellow
Pretty colors of the dawn
Later, comes the night
Cloak of purple, slight
Adding velvet to the sky

Yes, Jersey is my fav'rite city   [1]
(But not New Jersey; not so pretty)   [2]
Once, the Vikings swarm   [3]
Later, part of Norm-andy   [4]
Jer-sey: for milk, well-known
Jer-sey: potatoes grown
Jer-sey: You need a loan? Alright!
Island with a lot of banks offshore   [5]

Watch the seagulls as they soar
(Strange: reminded: Barb'ra Hershey)   [6]
Little island: one of richest   [7]
Click: they'll ship your stuff your way   [8]
Their beef makes many glad
(So long as cow ain't mad)   [9]
Yes, Jersey's dairy: finest kind!

A hundred miles south of Britain
In Channel, close to France, it's sittin'   [10]
They don't charge the VAT   [11]
You'll pay less for that, whoopee!
Jer-sey: prints its own "bread"   [12]
Jer-sey: folks widely spread   [13]
Jer:sey: Diverse religion? Right!   [14]
Tourists finding Jersey's quite a find!   [15]

And so, thus ends our little ditty
Both Donnie's song and Jersey: pretty
Wish I could visit - what a pity!

(fade)



[1] "Bailiwick", actually. And an island, actually. Just homage to TOS "city" here.

[2] Naturally, no offense intended to any residents of the fine US State of New Jersey, despite its many -- n/m. Visit one; visit the other, then you be the judge. :-) ... Fact: In recognition for help given to him during his exile in Jersey in the 1640s, Charles II gave George Carteret, bailiff and governor of Jersey, a large grant of land in the American colonies, which he promptly named New Jersey. (And it's been downhill ever since -- kidding! ;)

[3] Invaded by the Vikings in the ninth century.

[4] In 933, the island was annexed to the Duchy of Normandy by William Longsword, Duke of Normandy. In 1066, the Duchy of Normandy and the Kingdom of England became governed under one monarch, though no one knows quite why. Some historians believe that William's (illegitimate) grandson, who was also named William, had something to do with that.


[5]
Not a lot to work with in Donovan's "Jersey Thursday". Second verse is only a repeat of the first verse. Pretty much covered the entire Donovan song in the first verse of the parody -- the bane of smooshers, when the two songs are greatly dissimilar in length or amount of content. Hence, decided on expository smoosh of a place little-known to most Americans, including yours truly. Fascinating!

Jersey is a "tax haven", attracting deposits from other countries; hence, financial services contribute heavily to the island's economy. .... Reminiscent to moi of the Cayman Islands (which are just south of Cuba, an hour by air from Florida, and known for breeding turtles to release into the wild, as well as for excellent scuba diving -- sorry for the digression), another "offshore tax haven".


[6] Award-winning actor Barbara Hershey's career suffered when she changed her name to "Barbara Seagull". TT thought at the time that it was a tribute to the novel, "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", published at about the same time, but apparently, it had more to do with an incident with a bird while filming a movie. She reverted to her original *stage* name (born Barbara Lynn Herzstein) of "Hershey" by 1976. ... Song reference is to "Jersey Thursday"'s references to the gulls "wheeling and spinning".

[7] Having a very small population, and specializing in high-return sectors, the island has one of the highest per-capita incomes in the world -- estimated at USD $57,000 in 2005. Surpassed only by two other very small nations, for similar reasons: Bermuda and Luxembourg.

[8] Order-fulfillment is another significant business, such as for Internet-based vendors. Hey, why not do it from a tax haven?

[9] In addition to high-quality milk and cream, the island's beef is recognized for quality, though perhaps not as widely.

[10] Fourteen miles from the closest part of Normandy, France. Largest and southernmost of the Channel Islands.


[11]
Jersey does not charge the "Value-Added Tax", or "VAT" upon manufacturers, wholesalers, etc. that is charged by most nations in Europe, and some elsewhere. (For our non-US readers, most US states levy a sales tax on the end-purchaser only.) Another reason for fulfilling Internet orders there and conducting other trade. ... The following statement from Wikipedia was either unintentionally funny, or added by an editor with a sense of humor:

"The absence of VAT has also led to the growth of the fulfilment industry, whereby low-value luxury items, such as videos, lingerie and contact lenses are exported,"

Wow, what a plan for a perfect evening! Just slip in your contact lenses and watch the video as M'Lady slips into the lingerie.... ; )
(geek-note: "fulfilment", with one "L", is a UK spelling.)


[12] Jersey issues its own Jersey banknotes and coins, which circulate along with UK coinage, Bank of England notes, Scottish notes and Guernsey currency within the island. Jersey currency is not legal tender outside Jersey. However, in the United Kingdom it can be surrendered at banks within that country in exchange for Bank of England-issued currency on a like-for-like basis. ... (Trying to explain the somewhat-internationally-independent status of the island while it remains a "Crown Dependency" would quadruple the length of these footnotes. Wow, those Brits surely know how to make things complicated... )

[13] About 90,000 population, which would be a small-ish town in the US, and 45 square miles of land (116 sq. km), about twice the size of New York's Manhattan Island, which has about 1.6 million residents. About half of Jersey residents were born elsewhere, mostly of British/Irish descent, a few French, and about 6% Portuguese, for some reason.


[14]
Another Wikipedian with a sense of humor, irony, or density: "Religion in Jersey has a complex history and much diversity. The established church is the Church of England. In the countryside, Methodism found its traditional stronghold. A minority of Roman Catholics can also be found in Jersey."

Wow, that pretty much covers the world's religions... Imagine that: Three different varieties of Christianity in one country! How much more diverse can you get? **

** (It's a small and closely-knit community. Not knocking the residents or their religion, just the description in WP as "diverse" - sheesh! ;)


[15] Tourism is another major economic factor. About 750,000 visitors a year, which is about eight times the total population of the country.
(That would be like the US having 2.5 *billion* visitors a year, which is more than a third of the people on the planet.)
The duty-free shopping (see note [11] is undoubtedly attractive to those nearby. Also some historic castles, going back almost a thousand years, and the countryside and hilly shoreline look very nice.

Confession: This writer had no idea, until doing the OS research for these smooshes, that the band was Australian. (No Internet, no video of Australian flag on the drum.)

Question: *Where*, exactly, do the British and Aussie accents go when these groups sing? If you wake them up at 3am, do they speak with a US accent, meaning the rest is just a put-on? Like, as soon as they stop singing and start talking to the interviewer, MC, whatever? *Really* -- inquiring pea-brains want to know!

(Equally surprised to find that Hugh Laurie, who plays so well a surly American physician on the TV series, "House, M. D.", as parodied by yours truly, was British. After having watched a number of episodes, saw an interview, using his natural speech. Marvelous job of doing a US accent for the series. Seems so easy for Yanks to do some sort of Brit-speak, probably because it's a requirement for doing Shakespeare ;), but one doesn't picture it the other way around, since we don't have much to compare to WS... But it's good that they didn't take it too far, and give him a New Joisey accent, where the hospital is located. ;)

© 2010 Tommy Turtle. All rights reserved. E-mail: tomm...@yahoo.com

Your Vote & Comment Counts

The parody authors spend a lot of time writing parodies for the website and they appreciate feedback in the form of votes and comments. Please take some time to leave a comment below about this parody.

Place Your Vote

 LittleLots
Matches Pace of
Original Song: 
How Funny: 
Overall Score: 



In order for your vote to count, you need to hit the 'Place Your Vote' button.
 

Voting Results

 
Pacing: 5.0
How Funny: 5.0
Overall Rating: 5.0

Total Votes: 6

Voting Breakdown

The following represent how many people voted for each category.

    Pacing How Funny Overall Rating
 1   0
 0
 0
 
 2   0
 0
 0
 
 3   0
 0
 0
 
 4   0
 0
 0
 
 5   6
 6
 6
 

User Comments

Comments are subject to review, and can be removed by the administration of the site at any time and for any reason.

Patrick - November 04, 2010 - Report this comment
Not familiar with the Donavan song, but I could appreciate your insights into the tax sheltered Channel Isles. The only part of the UK occupied by the Germans in WWII. Ever heard of Sealand? An old gun tower, roughly similar to an oil drilling rig. Some enterprising gent took over in the 1960's and tried to use it for pirate radio broadcasting. Wonderful, bombastic (wordless) national anthem. Catch it on youtube.
Mark Scotti - November 04, 2010 - Report this comment
Gotta love Jersey...or you'll get your legs broken...LOL
TJC - November 04, 2010 - Report this comment
Smoosh to the ^hex, Primo lex, Dude wha's next? PS: Thanks for the geopoliticaligous histroy lesson!
Elizabeth Castle - November 04, 2010 - Report this comment
555 for the delightful spotlight on the Channel Islands... (and the VAT/whoopee pairing-- that made me laugh!)
Tommy Turtle - November 04, 2010 - Report this comment
Patrick: Never heard of the song myself, but there weren't a lot of choices for Thursday. ... Considered including the German occupation, but didn't, being gloomy, logically evident (so close to Normandy), and already waaay overlong on footnotes.
          I do remember the story about the pirate radio station. Thanks for v/c.

Mark Scotti: Wrong Jersey, methinks. ;-D .. but hey, thanks for v/c anyway!

TJC: What's next? Oh, I'll bet you'd like to know, mwahaha! :-D (thanks for v/c)

Elizabeth Castle: I ordered you a Whoopee Cushion, tax-free, for your kind comment -- hope I didn't get rooked. ;) Thanks for v/c (VAT comment)!
Old Man Ribber - November 04, 2010 - Report this comment
Those Were The Days!! ;D
John Barry - November 04, 2010 - Report this comment
A parodist and a scholar.
Tommy Turtle - November 05, 2010 - Report this comment
Old Man Ribber: Those Dudes Were Tased!
http://www.amiright.com/parody/60s/maryhopkin2.shtml

John Barry: Et tu, Barré? (thanks)
Andy P - November 08, 2010 - Report this comment
Just read the last four - excellent work to do 8 & LOL @ "band name confusion: apostrophes" on one of the others. Very TT!

Very well researched but... I know you appreciate having the facts ;) so I'd better point out that William Longsword only used the title of "comes" (count), and the first to use duke was his son Richard the Fearless (ruled 942 - 996)
Tommy Turtle - November 08, 2010 - Report this comment
Andy P: TUVM for votes and kind comments. Thanks for the correction. Source of most, including Williiam I, was WikiP article on Jersey itself. Just checked article on William Longsword, and saw:

"The title dux (duke) was not in use at the time and has been applied to early Norman rulers retroactively; William actually used the title comes (count)"

And the article itself is titled, "William I, Duke of Normandy". So this "retroactive application". seems to be the common usage, but you're right: I always like to know the original facts, and the story behind the changes. Thanks for the bit of enlightenment.

And I thought of you when penning the last part of that footnote - that you might appreciate the ironic understatement, along with the ref to the "other" title of William. ;) Cheers.

The author of the parody has authorized comments, and wants YOUR feedback.

Link To This Page

The address of this page is: http://www.amiright.com/parody/60s/theeasybeats1.shtml For help, see the examples of how to link to this page.

This is view # 1812