Last Wednesday, I posted my first song parody, “Where’s the Toilet Paper Gone?” Today, here’s my second (and perhaps final) song parody. Perhaps I’ll think of more to put on here, but no guarantees. This one came to me after listening to the 2018 pop hit Eastside on the radio.

The same caveats apply to this song parody as on the first one. There’s no music video of the parody song here – just the lyrics. Perhaps there will be a music video to this later on, performed by someone much more qualified than myself, but no promises there either. Dibs on the rights to it though. In the meantime, the lyric video to the original song is at the bottom, in case you need a frame of reference.

I sometimes like to slightly alter song lyrics as I listen to them, just to mess with the song. For example, try listening to Camila Cabello’s Havana, but change the song to Atlanta by simply switching the words “Havana” and “Atlanta”. Or sing along to to Charlie Puth’s One Call Away, but change the line to “Two Calls Away”. It makes absolutely no sense, but it sounds funny in my head. Those aren’t parodies though – that’s just changing one or two words of the song. For a while, I did the same thing to Eastside. I would change it to Westside in my head as I imagined a place on the west side where the sun wouldn’t rise, as a sort of bizarro world to the east side, where apparently the sun never set.

Now that we’re actually living in the bizarro world of 2020, it seemed like an appropriate time to expand on my “Westside” parody idea. It really didn’t take that much extra thought to alter the rest of the lyrics to fit our modern situation. For a bit of background, the best way I could get the lyrics to fit was to write this, not from my point of view, but from the point of view of a pair of high school sweethearts who are suddenly having to deal with the end of their senior year being completely turned upside down. They are also having to deal with social distancing as they each stay at home, reflecting on when they used to hang out together and go places (on the west side) when they were younger – six weeks ago.

In doing this one, I couldn’t help but feel for, among the many people affected, all the high school and college seniors out there who are undeservedly missing out on a lot of “lasts”. And so, without further adieu, this one goes out to the Class of 2020, and to really anyone else whose life has been turned upside down by our global pandemic.

"Westside"

When we were young and we went to school
We used to hold hands, man, that was so cool
Then we grew up and people got sick
Senior year was cut short due to this pandemic
I know your brother doesn't like this much
And he didn't believe me when I said this would suck
Oh, every day, I'd like to say
Wish the town could watch us graduate

She used to meet me on the Westside
In the city where the sun don't rise
But now today, since we're stuck inside
I still need a way to see your eyes
Baby, you know I just wanna Zoom tonight
We can't go anywhere we want
Mom went to the store to get groceries
Just wash your hands and chat with me, yeah

We can do anything if we put our minds to it
It gets better, we just got to get through it
The world is yours if you're willing to take it
Just ride this out and we're gonna make it
So stay at home, starting today
Start this new life together in a different place
Let's wait this thing out and listen to the CDC
So baby, stay home and Zoom with me

Seventeen, and I'm quarantined with my family
At my house during COVID-19
And then, oh, suddenly, the news on TV
Got me feeling pressure and taking life more seriously
People losing jobs and got bills to pay
TP hoarders are now our enemies
And now I, I'm thinking back to when I was young
Back to the day when I was going outside

He used to meet me on the Westside
In the city where the sun don't rise
But now today, since we're stuck inside
I still need a way to see your eyes
And baby, you know I just wanna Zoom tonight
We can't go anywhere we want
Dad went to the store and the pharmacy
Just wash your hands and chat with me, singing

We can do anything if we put our minds to it
It gets better, we just got to get through it
The world is yours if you're willing to take it
Just ride this out and we're gonna make it
So stay at home, starting today
Start this new life together in a different place
Let's wait this thing out and listen to the CDC
So baby, stay home and Zoom with me

Stay at home now, Stay at home now, Stay at home now
Stay at home now, Stay at home now, Stay at home now

He used to meet me on the Westside
She used to meet me on the Westside
He used to meet me on the Westside
She used to meet me on the Westside
In the city where the sun don't rise