"Love Died," A Song Parody

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Ever since I first heard it, I've thought Taylor Swift's song, "Sparks Fly" would make a great SS/LE AU songfic, with "The Story of Us" being more like what really happened. "Sparks Fly" is a wonderful ear candy pop song about young lust love. Then, on December 13, I read the following post from granatapfelrot (in the discussion for for_diddled's sporking of OOTP 31), replying to oryx_leucoryx:

it was Ron reminding him of James that made everything right.

And it was Ron's hair rumbling of all things, Harry used to console himself with. I swear both of those green-eyed ninnies thought it a bigger sin, that James did pose stupidly with his hair, than his bullying attack. And if that doesn't say everything anybody needs to know about Lily and Harry, I don't know what does.

That phrase, "green-eyed ninnies," has the same rhythm as a similar phrase in the chorus of "Sparks Fly," which gave me an idea: write a parody song from the standpoint of what Severus would have said to Lily after SWM, if he'd had enough self-respect and emotional independence from her to tell her off instead of groveling for her forgiveness. I must add that, although I think Lily's smile was probably the involuntary result of nervousness or embarrassment, it's extremely unlikely anyone as furious and humiliated as Snape must have been would have had such a generous interpretation of her facial expression.

The last line of the first verse is a reference to Swift's monster hit, "Mean," which started out as a reply to a music critic but has turned into an anti-bullying anthem. The reference to a dangling Severus being a prop for James and Lily's courtship was taken from a comment someone (sorry, I don't remember who) made during a discussion on DTCL or Snapedom (I think the latter). The lines about Snape being someone for Lily and her [real] friends to feel superior to is a reply to her remark, "My friends don't know why I even talk to you." The last verse was inspired by John’s solo in the Beatles classic, "This Boy," which I've always thought sounds like something Severus would have sung to Lily about James. Normally I would post this on Snapedom since it’s Snape-centric, but I put it here because the person who inspired it posts here.

I've added URLs at the end for the lyrics and video of "Sparks Fly." I recommend reading Swift's lyrics and listening to the song before reading my parody, since many of my lyrics were written to stand the original words and sentiments on their heads. There are two different versions of "This Boy." One has stereo remastered sound lip-synced with a TV appearance; the other was recorded live on The Ed Sullivan Show. The lip-synced version has better sound, but the live version is a better performance. Both are worth watching and listening to, since the song sounds different in each version.

"Sparks Fly" lyrics www.metrolyrics.com/sparks-fly-lyrics-taylor-swift.html

"Sparks Fly" video www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKar-tF__ac

"This Boy" lip-synced www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFMVdnoBHCI

"This Boy" live www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpONboAyXNc

Happy Birthday, Severus Snape!


LOVE DIED

You left me hanging with my arse in the air
Like I’m a side of meat
While you stood there flirting with that arsehole, Potter
I just never knew you could be so mean

And you stood right in front of me
Just trying not to smile
And when I saw that, well,
I could just feel my love for you die

I’m dropping you now
I am tired of the pain
And your dirty looks that
Make me feel ashamed
‘Cause I felt love die
When I saw you smile

You are such a green-eyed ninny
That I don’t know why
I ever thought I loved you,
Or wanted you in my life
‘Cause I felt love die
When I saw you smile

You truly don’t seem to realize
I have feelings, too
I am not just a prop for your courtship
Or someone for you and your friends
To feel superior to

It’s no surprise I’m on guard with the world
Or hang out with Death Eater guys
When the only friendship I have
Is obviously a lie

I’m dropping you now
I am tired of the pain
And your dirty looks that
Make me feel ashamed
‘Cause I felt love die
When I saw you smile

You are such a green-eyed ninny
That I don’t know why
I ever thought I loved you
Or wanted you in my life
‘Cause I felt love die
When I saw you smile

James runs his fingers through his hair
You try to hide your joy
That doesn’t say much for your taste, Lily
If he is really your kind of boy

He’ll lead you on and lie to you
And when he breaks your heart
You’ll wish you’d let me love you
instead of driving us apart

I’m dropping you now
I am tired of the pain
And your dirty looks that
Make me feel ashamed
‘Cause I felt love die
When I saw you smile

You are such a green-eyed ninny
That I don’t know why
I ever thought I loved you
Or wanted you in my life
‘Cause I felt love die
When I saw you smile

And my love died
Oh, yes, you smiled
And my love died

Comments

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

This is a thing of beauty. Seriously. :3

[wolf-willow31.livejournal.com]

That Is Totally Awesome! An excellent tribute on Severus's birthday!

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome. :)

[granatapfelrot.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful. I love it.
And I'm very happy and proud, that I helped inspire you.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Nice. You know, usually parodies are meant to be funny, but I found this to be too true to really be so. Well done, though. :-)

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the compliments and the inspiration. You, the Beatles, and Taylor Swift--perfect together. :D

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I think that's part of the reason we find HP so creepy--we're supposed to take seriously things that are used for satiric purposes in better other stories.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

I really hope that one day a few years from now that more people will catch on to the utter moral turpitude in these books. I know that I probably say this a lot, but I am getting pretty tired of being a voice crying out in the wilderness, so to speak. Other than this board, I have met very, very few people who seem to or want to realize these things. If it weren't for all of the fan fervor, I would be really happy to just ignore the series and move on. That's hard to do when it's become this terribly intrenched in nerd culture.