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Here's a blatantly self-referential parody, "Song to Bobby" written by Chuck Perdue during the heyday of the folksong revival, in the fall of 1962. It's a parody of Bob Dylan's "Song to Woody." Hey, Hey, Bob Dylan, I wrote you a song, 'Bout the time you wrote Woody Guthrie a song, 'Bout the song Woody wrote about old Leadbelly, Now, who's gonna come along and immortalize me? Chuck (my father) sang this for Ernie Marrs in the summer of 1965. Ernie listened, retired to his room and came back a bit later with the following: Hey, Hey, Chuck Perdue, I wrote you a song, And in case you're wonderin' why it's just one verse long, Sooner or later I might write more, When you've done somethin' to be immortalized for. After hearing Ernie's song, Chuck "crept away and wrote the following," which he promptly sang for Ernie: Hey, Hey, Ernie Marrs, I wrote you a song, 'Cause the one you wrote me was one verse too long, But I'll make you a deal if you will agree, I won't write no more about you if you won't write no more about me. He notes "And we have kept that agreement" in his book of songs. I can recall my father singing the entire song at coffee-houses, concerts, etc., relating the story behind its writing, and the back-and-forth verses. Marty Perdue martin_perdue@comcast.net
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