Classic Songs Are Being Rewritten To Include Coronavirus References, From ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ To ‘My Sharona’
John V.
Posted On March 23, 2020
Classic songs are being rewritten to include coronavirus references, from ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ to ‘My Sharona’
With millions of Americans stuck at home to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, people are doing whatever they can to stay sane. For some, that means rewriting the lyrics to their favorite songs to bring a little levity to a grave situation.
Staying sane in time of the coronavirus means different things. For some Americans this includes rewriting their favourite songs with a little corona twist.
Some people use the classics by Billy Joel, Queen and others to recompose them with coronavirus themes, while others let their imagination run wild and write new songs altogether.
You may not believe how well these lyrics work in our new times.
‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’
Brittany Barkholtz, a Billy Joel fan had trouble falling asleep one night and she decided to reinvent a part of Harry Truman, a true 1989 classic from Billy Joel, to reflect the current crisis.
“Schools close, Tom Hanks, trouble in the big banks, no vaccine, quarantine, no more toilet paper seen. Travel ban, Weinstein, panic COVID-19, NBA, gone away, what else do I have to sayyyyyy,” Barkholtz posted on Twitter.
“Plenty of people have said I should do a whole song, which could be fun,” she told Rolling Stone. “It’s wild to me because I’m not an entertainer or a humorist. I’m just a boring normal person who made a Billy Joel joke.”
‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
Arguably the best song ever written in the history of mankind, the enduring 1975 hit by Queen has also been given a makeover to paint for us the urgency of the pandemic we are all living in right now.
So, Dana Jay Bein, a comedian from Cambridge, Massachusetts, gave us “Coronavirus Rhapsody” in 12 subsequent tweets.
“Is this a sore throat? Is this just allergies?
Caught in a lockdown. No escape from reality.
Don’t touch your eyes. Just hand sanitize quickly.
I’m just a poor boy, no job security.
Because of easy spread, even though
washed your hands, laying low.
I looked out the window, the curve doesn’t look flatter to me, to me,” Bein’s parody begins.
This version became a hit, being retweeted more than 170,000 times.
‘My Sharona’
In 1979, The Knack’s lead vocalist Doug Fieger fell in love with Sharona and wrote one of the biggest hits. Today, finding love is the least of our concerns and our biggest concern is finding toilet paper.
Enter Chris Mann, a professional singer who from “The Voice”.
“I need toilet paper, toilet paper, toilet paper. I’m out of toilet paper, it’s my corona,” he sings.
“Got to make a grocery run, well that sounds fun
Why’m I out here risking my life, corona?
Where’s a god-damned parking space? Sh*t, I touched my face!
Wait, I think I finally caught my corona!”
This parody has had 1 million views on YouTube since Mann posted it.
‘Leave (Get Out)’
The most famous breakup anthem from 2004 by JoJo with lyrics like “Get out right now. It’s the end of you and me”, hit home close for many of us back then. JoJo herself gave us a remake of this catchy tune to remind us all to “Chill (Stay In).”
“I never thought corona could be such a nasty b*tch
Now that she’s here, boy, all I want is for you to use common sense.
Stay in! Right now! Do it for humanity. I’m deada** about that, but we will survive,” JoJo sings.
JoJo says she got the idea from one of the comments on her livestream.
“Someone … was like, ‘You should just flip the lyrics for ‘Leave (Get Out)’ and tell people to stay in right now,'” she told “Good Morning America.” “And I’m like, ‘You know, you’re right.’ It’s a great idea.”
