You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish
Album details
Artist: REO Speedwagon
Year: 1978
Average fodder rating (out of 5): 4
Difficulty: Mostly simple
Assessment of suitability for parodying
A generally easy album, except for the occasional nonsense lyric.
The parodies
Roll With The Changes . . . Sail With No Changes
Time for Me to Fly . . . Why Should I Sympathize?
Runnin’ Blind . . . Going Blind
Blazin’ Your Own Trail Again . . . Raisin’ Your Own Sails Again
Sing to Me . . . Evening at Sea
Lucky For You . . . Unlucky For You
Do You Know Where Your Woman Is Tonight . . . Do You Know Where Your Heart Is Tonight
Behind the scenes
- I wrote the parody album in September 2016.
- I like to call the parody album He Could Tune His Organ, But He Can’t Tuna Fish.
- I decided to choose this album upon a chance listening to Runnin’ Blind, with its lyrics about a crazy person, on April 19, 2016. This then spurred me to remember that Time for Me to Fly was about a bad relationship I could also work with, how easy the album as a whole was, and how surprising it would be right after Dookie. But, as I explain on why your readers should not try to predict you, my readers were probably more surprised by what album did not follow Dookie.
- Remarks about my creative process with this album are found in Album Story 14: Complete Left Turn.
Categories
Album categories: 4-fodder albums, mostly simple albums
Song categories: REO Speedwagon songs, 1970s songs, 3-fodder songs, 4-fodder songs, 5-fodder songs, songs parodied multiple times
Parody subject categories: Parodies about begging to differ from Davy Jones, parodies about difficulty sympathizing, story of Davy Jones and Calypso, insanity, pirate lifestyle, sailing, literal heart misplacement
Parody style categories: Turnabout parodies, repurposed songs, pleasant parodies, clever uses
Other parody categories: Parodies that are accessible to everyone