Chicago

[GulPlum <plumeski@yahoo.com>]

I am currently living an obssessive relationship with the Chicago 
soundtrack CD and I keep feeling that these songs make for excellent 
Potterverse filking. I know that CMC did a couple of songs a while 
ago, but I see more possibilities. 

As it happens, I am utterly dire at anything approaching poetry, 
getting words to rhyme, or fitting words to music. I'm particularly 
bad at filking, as I have difficulty escaping the original words. 
I've not attempted to put new words to music, but what got me is that 
the original songs with just a few changes here and there fit some 
Potterverse scenes/characters very well. 

I therefore wondered if any of the talented filkers around here might 
want to have a go. These are some of the things I noticed, which 
consist mainly of single phrases from the original songs which appear 
appropriate or need just a little tweaking.

Songs in CD/Film order (they don't make a narrative whole in the 
Potterverse, they're just some individual scenes, of which some are 
not quite canon). Yes, I know that most of these suggestions are 
extremely lame. I *did* say I was crap at this, but I needed to get 
it out of my system. :-)

"(And) All That Jazz"="The Dark Lord's Back": GoF, Ch 1: Voldemort 
talks over his plans with Wormtail and thinks back to his days of 
glory. Key phrase: "I'm gonna cast a curse/And then some more/The 
Dark Lord's Back!".

"Funny Honey": PoA, end of Ch 12: Ron discovers bloody stains on his 
bed and assuming Scabbers is dead, sings of his relationship with his 
pet. Key phrase: "That lazy, crazy, lovely/Rodent of mine". The last 
verse (in the original, as Amos spills the beans) is transported to 
after the Shrieking Shack when Ron knows the score, ending 
with: "That lying, cheating, murd'ring/Rodent ain't mine".

"When You're Good To Mama": GoF, the Graveyard: Voldemort lays into 
the Death Eaters: "If you're with the Dark Lord/I won't Crucio you." 
(of course, sung with menage rather than cynicism and needs a 
completely different musical arrangement). I'm having trouble 
working "If you want my gravy/Pepper my ragout" into a reference to 
the rebirth Potion. :-)

"Cell Block Tango": Either the graveyard again with the DEs 
justifying themselves, or an invented scene in Azkaban with the 
imprisoned guys saying what they've done (yeah, I know that one's 
very low on canon support). Of course, this is a recitative but the 
chorus needs almost no tweaking at all. (Although I adore the dark 
humour of the original and the "punchlines" crease me up every time, 
that aspect of the song doesn't work in our context.)

"All I Care About": Snape sings "All I care about is Harry". The 
chorus-line intro becomes an integral part of the song, and there are 
no chorus interruptions throughout: "They want Harry/Where is 
Harry?/Give them Harry/They want Harry/H. A. Double R. Y./They're All 
His/He's Their kind of a guy/And ooh what luck/'Cause here he is."

Of course, if Slash turns you on, the spoken bit in the original 
show, cut from the movie, gets back in (with just a couple of words 
changed):  "Maybe you think I'm talking about physical love. Well, 
I'm not. Not JUST physical love. There's other kinds of love. Like 
love of...potions. Love of... spying. Love of lending a hand to 
someone who really needs you. Love of your fellow man. Those kinds of 
love are what I'm talkin' about. And physical love ain't so bad 
either."

"We Both Reached For The Gun": completely different setting from the 
movie, and no ventriloquist dummy. In the Shrieking Shack, Black and 
Pettigrew explain what happened on the night of the attack on the 
Potters, culminating in their duel: "We both reached for our wands".

"Roxie": GoF, Ch. 16: Harry & Ron duet as they think about entering 
the Triwizard Tournament. Alternating verses, with "The name on 
everybody's lips is gonna be Harry / Weasley". The finale is in 
unison (with chorus), ending on  "Everyone else billed below/Harry 
[Ron interjects: 'Ron']".

"I Can't Do It Alone": I'm not sure what to do with this one, but the 
line "My sister is now/Unfortunately deceased" jumps out at me and 
I'm trying to shoe in Petunia and Vernon ranting about Lily and "that 
Potter" in the Hut-On-The-Rock in PS/SS.

"Mister Cellophane": GoF: Ron during the Rift, sings of having 
nothing but the worst of everything, and now even his best friend has 
deserted him, and sees himself as "Mister Second-rate" 
(alternatively, inspired by the recent filk featuring Snape, "Mister 
Spellotape", that title works as well, as a reference to Ron's 
Spellotaped wand in CoS and his Spellotaped books). (Both Jealous!Ron 
and Betrayed!Ron are acceptable) :-)

(BTW for those who aren't aware of this, and in view of the various 
admissions in another thread of things folk didn't know, I don't feel 
out of place saying this, Sellotape (TM) is the real-world UK 
equivalent of Scotch Tape (TM) in the USA; "to Sellotape" also exists 
as a colloquial verb - http://www.sellotape.co.uk/index2.html.)

"Razzle Dazzle": Scene not in canon as Crouch Jr first transforms 
into Mad-Eye Moody and summarises the plan to grab Harry with manic 
glee. (This is what inspired me to think of Chicago-as-Potter. It 
wasn't the song, it was the image of a nifty tap dance with a wooden 
leg). :-)

"Class": CoS, Ch. 4: Draco and Lucius in Burgin & Burkes decry what's 
happening to wizarding society.

"Nowadays": Hermione, during the boys-looking-for-dates sequence in 
GoF, thinks about which boy she wants to take her to the Ball. 
(inspired by the line: "You can even marry Harry/But mess about with 
Ike"). H/H, H/R and H/Krum ships all allowed. :-)

Please feel free to be inspired or disgusted by the above ideas. I 
won't feel offended either way!

-- 
GulPlum AKA Richard who would like to admit that he'd never heard 
of "Mr Rogers" (viz. another thread) and needed to look at some US-
based news sites to find out about him. Then again, US residents 
wouldn't know who Valerie Singleton is (and nor would most Brits 
younger than mid-30s)... ;-)