Dooby dooby doo
Doo dooby doo
You and your daughter so cute
With her black leather boot
I'm gonna walk all over you.
Frankie, when I feel blue
I listen to your rhyme
Poor and white
A stranger in the night
I exchange glances with you.
And your daughter with the laughing face
You sang with her, too
Your perfume fills my head and oh
The night's so blue
Dooby dooby doo.
Always you gave a lyric something new
You are the one man who
Brought sunshine to my life
Barefoot, I'm shrugging off my shoe
Frankie, I'm finally through
Author notes
Hope it's OK to enter. I'm unlisted. Seems a shame to parody Plath, but I'm actually a great fan of the poem parodied. To say I enjoy Daddy might not be the right word, but it's sure as hell some poem. Who says that Sylvia Plath didn't like rhyming?
http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/7041-Sylvia-Plath-Daddy
A contest entry
- Parodies (serious or satirical) #62 by Lyndon.
3970 points, ended April 6, 2008, 11 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 10 of 10
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The two poems are incomparable
in mood, feeling, tone, truisms. The leap is from traumatised confessional poetry to a rather slick and clever parody upon this famous icon of popular song.
As a judge, the question is not one of which poem do I prefer to read but rather how well the parody sizes up with the original.
Well, you have the father-daughter duo working for you well. However, your poem is about your relationship with the two through various media and father/daughter are seen in the third person. So, we have a parallel of sorts with the Plath poem but a satire on Sinatra, as a singer and the kind of way he sang and affected you. For me, that is what your satire is about.
It is a clever poem you have written but it does not lock into the Plath poem. Your attempt in your final line to do this, for me, does not work. Sorry, because it is a very fine effort.
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I think I like this poem better than the origional It has a nice ebb and flow to the rhyme, until the last line.
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Neither a fan nor retractor be...
Neither a fan of Plath or of Sinatra (It was the 1940's after all) even though other kids in my class loved them both, absolutely goo goo over Frankie, they made me a misfit even then. This sounds pretty sick but I guess that was the intention--and it read rather better than the original Plath.
Terry
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Right On!
Inspired, this joining of another father/daughter team. I felt the same sort of darkness in the Sinatras, an undercurrent. I'm a big Plath fan, {yes, I admit it} and this parody is right on the mark, and inventive as hell. What a rip, to read one after the other. Best of luck!
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I'm with MargaretG ...
and am definitely no fan of Plath. I have to say that you have done fairly well here, although the last line was a real let down. It just didn't seem to have any punch to it at all. I think you could have found something a little stronger to end this with.
Strangers In The Night is one of my all time favorite songs, so it was interesting to see it included here.
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Well, I could say Frankie, Frankie you bastard, I'm through. But I thought I'd make it a bit gentler. There's enough strength of feeling in the original. Plath had a habit of writing, as it were, with blood, and saying things we'd rather not hear. And I'll admit she's inspired some awful self-pitying nonsense from some. But I still think that at her best she was a genius. I can recite most of Lady Lazarus from memory. But I don't do it at Burns' suppers. Best Wishes.
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Frank and Nancy sang together, I think, though I don't remember her appearing much after "Boots". This is an inspired satire of Sinatra, using lines from his songs, I like it very much. I am not a fan of Plath, or dismals in general, though of course there is nothing wrong with admiring her work.
Best of luck in the contest.
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This contest gets more surreal by the minute.
This poem - I don't know why - but I love it. It tickles me.
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Thanks very much. I kind of like it myself. There's a father/daughter relationship in the parody which at first I didn't notice, but it helps to make a link to the original.
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A clever and highly imaginative parody--the yoking together of such incongruous elements as Plath and Sinatra works really well and is very entertaining to boot!
Bill
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