Parody songs penned to the tune of popular chartbusters belted out over loudspeakers have been one of the harbingers of the election season for decades now.
That they have survived the changing times and technologies vouch for their popularity and perceived effectiveness though not all composers and lyricists behind the original numbers seem fully impressed.
Music composer Gopi Sundar says while it’s sometimes off-putting to listen to one’s mutilated work, the purpose it serves needs to be respected as it validates the saying that the end justifies the means.
Mark of popularity
“Anyway it is not meant to humiliate unlike on social media where people purposefully abuse without any reason. In fact, it can even be seen as a mark of popularity of one’s work. Besides, being overly inquisitive about everything in life won’t do anyone any good, and ignoring is sometimes a better idea,” he says.
His compatriot Shan Rahman agrees that the phenomenon of parody songs in an election can be looked at both positively and negatively. “If you want to look at it critically, then you can even find fault if it is being used for a political ideology not to your liking or that the lyrics are out of sync and not up to the meter of the composition. On the positive side, it gives a second life to a long-forgotten song prompting people to go back to the original,” he says.
Despite being a lucrative work and a much sought after election parody song writer in the past, poet and lyricist R.K. Damodaran has now stopped plying the trade as he finds it incompatible with his stature and the content increasingly veering from taking political pot-shots to obscenity.
Change down the years
“Character assassination in the name of campaigning is unacceptable. Teasing used to be the overriding character of election parody songs and they never guaranteed votes but merely served as an attention grabber,” he says.
Music director Bijibal observes that even the element of fun and curiosity, USPs of such songs, seem to have deserted parody songs. “Aesthetics and even rhyming have gone out of the window with all and sundry turning lyricists. Personally, I don’t like anything stripped of aestheticism but demanding their discontinuation may be perceived as intolerance,” he says.
