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Didn't Cause the Virus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXASxdp1Ljw
There is, of course, nothing funny about COVID-19, which has killed and sickened millions of people around the world as well as the impact it has had on the lives of the global population and economy. While laughter is certainly not the best medicine, it just may keep us from being depressed for a moment. Here is my version of Five Times August’s parody of Billy Joel’s melody with some lyric revisions plus an additional verse added to mirror the present situation we find ourselves today.
Five Times August is the band name and solo act of singer/songwriter Brad Skistimas. Skistimas is considered a pioneer and an expert “do-it-yourself” indie artist having been featured in Billboard Magazine, Performing Songwriter, Guitar Player, People Magazine, and USA Today. He was the first completely unsigned act to have an album distributed in Walmart stores nationwide with 2007’s titled “The Independent”. The album’s music has been featured on many popular TV shows, commercials, and films. In 2021 Five Times August began releasing a series of protest songs taking aim at Covid-era regulations. This is one of them.
Billy Joel’s hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire” became “We Didn’t Spread the Virus” at the hands of Dallas musician Brad Skistimas. In the chorus he sings: “We didn’t spread the virus / ‘Cause we were all at home, we had nowhere to go / No, we didn’t spread the virus / We all just stayed at home, kept playing on our phone.” As a nod to TAC, I substitute “guitar alone” for phone.Regarding the origin of the tune, Billy Joel explained how this song came about by saying, “I started doing that as a mental exercise. I had turned forty. It was 1989, and I said, ‘Okay, what’s happened in my life?’ I wrote down the year 1949… It was kind of a mind game. One of the few times I’ve written the lyrics first, which should be obvious to why I usually prefer to write the music first, because the melody is horrendous. It’s like a mosquito droning. It’s one of the worst melodies I’ve ever written. I kind of like the lyrics though” – covers 40 years of historical events and people.
However, the tune IS highly catchy and will dwell in one’s head awhile! Other than that, I am really sick of wearing a mask and sticking cotton swabs up my nostrils! 😷
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This discussion was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by
Guitargeezer. Reason: Corrected youtube link
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This discussion was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by
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5 Replies
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Fun song @Guitargeezer-Jack — made me smile.
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😁 Me too (under my mask) @Loraine!
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Well, I can say one true thing about covid, @Guitargeezer-Jack . Pretty much everything they have told us is a lie. We don’t know how many people have died from covid, but we do know it’s not what they tell us. And on and on.
And laughter is a lot better medicine than anything the pharmaceutical companies offer. It has no side effects. That alone puts it ahead of anything they sell. Oh, and sell is the operative word here. Again, on and on.
Finally, the song. It’s cute. The best thing about this song is that it gave you more practice playing and singing, and for that, I say: “Bravo”.
Other than that, I thank you for the info about the song and the artist. We can always rely on you to provide interesting background info. Thanks for that.
MG 😀
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Thanks for your encouraging words. It’s actually difficult to sing through a KN95 mask! 😩 As you say, it’s PRACTICE for playing and singing. This time a much more up tempo tune than I have done before.
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LGB
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