Writing Comedy Songs

Writing Original Comedy Songs

When writing a comedy song, the most important thing is to make sure that your lyrics are funny. A comedy song can involve wordplay, slapstick or political satire; the lyrics can be about eccentric people or ridiculous situations - whatever will make people laugh.

The lyrics of a comedy song should tell an unusual story or look at something from an unexpected angle. Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer by Randy Brooks is a popular comedy song because we don't expect Christmas songs to mention accidental death. The fact that the killer, a reindeer, is a lovable symbol of Christmas (which itself represents peace, love and happiness to many people) and that the victim - grandma - is an eccentric old woman who drinks and forgets her medication, adds to the humor.

When writing a comedy song, keep the melody simple so that listeners focus on the lyrics.

Generally, people who sing comedy songs do not have very large vocal ranges, so limit the range of notes to about one octave.

Writing Song Parodies

When you write a song parody, you take the melody of a popular song and change the lyrics to make them sound funny.

"Weird Al" Yankovic has written many successful song parodies.

When writing a parody, make sure that the song you are parodying is familiar to many people. Try not to change the lyrics very much.

A large part of the humor comes from the fact that people recognize the original song and know the original song's lyrics.

Before writing a parody song, be aware of the copyright laws where you live so you are not guilty of violating the copyright of the original song's publisher. You should also learn how royalties would be distributed. You would not want to write a parody that becomes very popular but have all the royalties go to the publisher of the original song.