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Song Parodies -> "Shrimp's On The Barbie"
Original Song Title:
"Cat's In The Cradle"
(MP3)Original Performer:
Harry Chapin
Parody Song Title:
"Shrimp's On The Barbie"
Parody Written by:
Invisible Boy
The Lyrics
G'Day Mates...
Shrimp’s On The Barbie
My Aussie friend came to visit me
I wanted to show what a bloke I could be
I rolled my kaiki shorts above the knee
Had “Men At Work” playing on CD
We started drinking; soon I heard a shout from the loo
“Crikey, why is the water blue, Mate,
And spinning counterclockwise too"
And the shrimp’s on the barbie and the stubbie’s cold
Kidman is hot and Mel Gibson is old
Crocodile Dundee drives a Subaru
And here’s a Four X for you, Mate
You know we’re gonna hoist a few
Some ships sailed South, it was told to me
Bound from England to start a new colony
Was it easy ? Oh! No…they survived barely
But 10 to life would be much worse you see
When the poor and weak were unjustly condemned
Well then, Ned Kelly fought for them, Mate
You know he did a lot for them
And the shrimp’s on the barbie and there’s lots of booze
Little kids ride on their pet kangaroos
And they hunt for dingos
In little gangs, and catch them with boomerangs, Mate
You know they’re good with boomerangs
My friend spoke of the Outback and he made a fuss
“Bout his friend Priscilla who drove a bus
So I asked, “should we walkabout for a while?"
He drank some grog, then spit on my tile
"What I'd really like, pal, is to groove to the Bee Gees
Listen, cobber, can I hear them please?"
And the shrimp’s on the barbie and old Shelia’s here
Flashin’ her fanny and drinking a beer
“Did you bring some frangers ?”
I hear her say, “cause this is your lucky day, Mates
It’s gonna be your lucky day”
The rag is now tired, asleep on the floor
My Aussie friend wants to drink some more
He says, "I love my country” with eyes aglow
His cheeks are streaked with tears and then before I know
He plays me’ “Waltzing Matilda” on his dirigidoo
And he keeps Reminiscing ‘till two, Mates
We just slide down-under ‘till two
Then with a faraway look he explains to me
About Gallipoli
A needless tragedy
And the shrimp’s on the barbie as the world goes on
Even though locals prefer the word “prawn”
Ask a Yank to find it
Won’t stand a chance, ‘cause most think that it’s close to France, Mates
You know they think it’s East of France…
IB
My Aussie friend came to visit me
I wanted to show what a bloke I could be
I rolled my kaiki shorts above the knee
Had “Men At Work” playing on CD
We started drinking; soon I heard a shout from the loo
“Crikey, why is the water blue, Mate,
And spinning counterclockwise too"
And the shrimp’s on the barbie and the stubbie’s cold
Kidman is hot and Mel Gibson is old
Crocodile Dundee drives a Subaru
And here’s a Four X for you, Mate
You know we’re gonna hoist a few
Some ships sailed South, it was told to me
Bound from England to start a new colony
Was it easy ? Oh! No…they survived barely
But 10 to life would be much worse you see
When the poor and weak were unjustly condemned
Well then, Ned Kelly fought for them, Mate
You know he did a lot for them
And the shrimp’s on the barbie and there’s lots of booze
Little kids ride on their pet kangaroos
And they hunt for dingos
In little gangs, and catch them with boomerangs, Mate
You know they’re good with boomerangs
My friend spoke of the Outback and he made a fuss
“Bout his friend Priscilla who drove a bus
So I asked, “should we walkabout for a while?"
He drank some grog, then spit on my tile
"What I'd really like, pal, is to groove to the Bee Gees
Listen, cobber, can I hear them please?"
And the shrimp’s on the barbie and old Shelia’s here
Flashin’ her fanny and drinking a beer
“Did you bring some frangers ?”
I hear her say, “cause this is your lucky day, Mates
It’s gonna be your lucky day”
The rag is now tired, asleep on the floor
My Aussie friend wants to drink some more
He says, "I love my country” with eyes aglow
His cheeks are streaked with tears and then before I know
He plays me’ “Waltzing Matilda” on his dirigidoo
And he keeps Reminiscing ‘till two, Mates
We just slide down-under ‘till two
Then with a faraway look he explains to me
About Gallipoli
A needless tragedy
And the shrimp’s on the barbie as the world goes on
Even though locals prefer the word “prawn”
Ask a Yank to find it
Won’t stand a chance, ‘cause most think that it’s close to France, Mates
You know they think it’s East of France…
IB
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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 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| 5 | 18 | 18 | 18 |
User Comments
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You had me until you mentioned the Bee Gees. But I've come alive with a five, Clive, and that's it over there on the shed.
Pretty good, transparent one. I'll have to take your word on the Australian references, but this paced very well, and the first verse was quite clever. 555
my favorite of the day...bravo
You've Crowed a Pearcingly good parody, mate.
What I know about Oz: AC/DC, Rose Tattoo and Kylie Minouge. OK, there's a little more than that but it'll have to do for now, along with this parody. :-)
555 for great song on the Land Down Under! But I do prefer 'Ken on Barbie'!
fair dinkum, that's a flaming bonza parody IB, you little beaut. Unbelievably entertaining and well-researched, Invisible Boy, and you're clearly not one of us to mis-spell it dirigidoo, and to think Ned Kelly had pretensions to Robin Hood-style honour because none of us do - but some of your gets were fantastic, like blue loos, frangers, Reminiscing, XXXX, Gallipoli, and the Austria gag - have you lived here? reveal your sources!! :-) - brilliant 555
Good dinkum, mate! Have a Lindeman's shiraz on the South American!
Thanks all...
To Michael..."You Should Be Dancin' " is one of the greatest dance songs of all time.
To McKludge...I've waited for the day where I could use "counterclockwise" in any way.
To alvin...Thanks, I means a lot to me coming from you.
To John Barry...Thanks for your Ravin'
To Peter...Don't forget "Crowded House" and "Swagman"
To LCC...Ewwwwww...they are anatomically incorrect dolls.
To Stuart...I'm so glad to hear from an "Aussie". I had hoped to get a comment from "one of you" to see if I had got the jokes right. I've never been beyond the shores of the USA or Canada. Ned Kelly I had read about on crimelibrary.com. Gallipoli I read about in a book titled " Redempiton" which was a sequel to a book titled "Trininy", both by Loen Uris. A recommended read. For the rest I just googled "Australian Slang" and the words appeared. And for Michael McV...Lindeman's is a big seller in "The States"...that and YellowTail.
I hope all the drinkin; dinkum didn't get anyone "knocked up" around 3 or 4 AM. I think our downunda mates can explain the "knocked up" part, or at least I think I have this downunda vernacular stated correctly. If not then "my bad" and I come off with my foot in my dirigidoo in my mouth. Isn't dirigidoo a word in the OS "Tie me kangeroo down, mate"? Anyway extra fine work to a rather persnickity OS. I've done this OS several times and it can be challenging to pull off a good one and you so did my fine bard and cohort in satire. Well done IB.
Great use of research and humor. This parody was a beaut mate, an absoulte beaut. No Steve Irwin referance though, is it still too early to joke about Steve? Anyways, I loved this parody, and appricate all the work you put into researching.
(SOTM) Steve Irwin would have worked here, since he decided to mention Gallipolli, too. Kinda much of a list song for all of the Aussie references, but you worked all in well. You got one fact wrong..."Priscilla Queen of The Desert" was not a person, it was the name given to the vehicle the group rode in. No worries, though, mate!
SOTM - As above. I'm sure it's not all that accurate a representation of Australia, but who cares? A pretentious OS like this one deserves a good send-up.
SOTM - See previous comment.
SOTM - Nice parody.
(SOTM Dec 2007) - Voted and commented on 12/15/07. Forgot to mention in earlier comment that I thought from the title that Ken was on the Barbie.
Great
(SOTM) Normally the title 'Shrimps On The Barbie' would dig at my very soul, but the parody itself made me forget about that bloody awful saying. 555 bottles of VB for you!
(SOTM) and what are shrimps anyway? we actually call them prawns - no need to repeat what a fan I am of this one, Invisible Boy, especially for avoiding the obvious gags, and for overdoing the most obvious one, although it's not just kids that ride around on kangaroos, IB, so do my grandparents, and our Minister for the Arts......and Cate Blanchett now I think about it
General McArthur, ~Allied Supreme Commander,~ Sir , as Croccodile Dundee was a 'rep' for the Land DownUdder, he did a commercial, where he says, "Shrimps' on the Barbie"! It was very snappy, and well liked by us Yanks. Shrimp means a smaller prawn. In NorCAL prawns now cost about $12 US per pound!
Thought I'd commented on this when it first came out... and I had the same kind of perverted thought as Guy ;-) I'll vote it XXXX.
How'd I miss this? When us Aussies take over the world, IB, this parody will guarantee you some favouritism. I love it when foreigners tackle our culture, and you did a great job. The few occasions where you got it wrong (Ned Kelly, "dirigidoo", Priscilla) only served to make the parody more charming. You bloody beaut, mate! 555++
(SOTM) Interesting idea Invisible Boy, and pretty good execution. . .your pacing is unquestionable, and you are near perfect on rhyme schemes.
That title is great for Smoke on the Water too, 5s
Very nice job on the song, I also had the same perverted thoughts as Guy and Phil. Birds of a feather...
SOTM- What the heck is a midget doing on that doll? Oh, never mind, that's not what it's about. Very funny, Mate.
SOTM - Hahahaha, I too thought this was about some midget on a doll. But this was pretty darn clever, good freakin' job.
Found this doing research for a class project.
This is really good. "Gallipoli" he he.
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