I haven’t written a
lot of parody, but that’s what we have here—satirical lyrics for the song
“You
Belong to Me.” The original is really quite a wonderful song. You
can read its lyrics (something close to the original lyrics, anyway)
here. The video below (from
YouTube, of course) is a rendition of the song by
Vonda
Shepard, from her Ally McBeal album. I’m not sure why the video pairs
the song with pictures of bridges, including one from Pittsburgh. Since I’m both a Vonda Shepard fan and a bridge fan,
however, the combination
works for me.
The subjects of my
parody are the “orthodox” Anglicans seeking “realignment,” which is to
say, leaving The Episcopal Church and taking its property with them. If
you don’t understand what that’s all about, that’s too bad because I
don’t have time to explain it here.
My original
inspiration was the first line of the song: “See the pyramids across the
Nile.” In the Diocese of Pittsburgh, which its ambitious bishop Bob
Duncan is trying to realign, supporters of The Episcopal Church—both
liberal and conservative—are working to prevent (or to cope with)
realignment in a group informally called Across the Aisle. (More
information is available on my
blog.) I think you
can see where I got my first line. I actually expected the song
to be about the Across the Aisle folks, but it didn’t work out that way.
For those who don’t recognize some of the references, here are links for
the AAC,
Network, and
CCP. The
prayer book referred to is the 1662 English Book of Common Prayer
(available
here), which seems to be favored by realignment types. (Among the
virtues of this prayer book is the fact that it was written before there
was (or needed to be) an Episcopal Church.)
I suppose I took
some liberties in the use of “Timbuktu.” It was a convenient rhyme, even
though it is the name of a rather insignificant place in the
twenty-first century, and Mali has not figured in the Anglican church
wars. The name is associated with Africa, mysteriousness, and
remoteness, however, and I used my poetic license—I must check if it
expires on my upcoming birthday—in choosing it as a stand-in for a locus
of African interference in the affairs of The Episcopal Church.
The bridge of the
song (“We won’t feel alone …”) is a
little tricky, and, without rendering the musical notation here, I
cannot make clear just how I expect words and music to fit together.
I assure you that they can indeed be made compatible.
