How Lovely
For a long while here we've been posted wonderful parody song videos by Randy Rainbow. But as much as we like them, long before they existed we have always loved the Lady Shellington. And posted videos of hers.
Shelly Goldstein is a TV writer and writer of benefit extravaganzas (including that big gala at the beloved Northwestern University a couple years ago, hosted by Stephen Colbert, that I wrote about here) who several years back decided to branch out with a cabaret act. It's a mix of standards, as well as her own parody songs -- along with wonderful material in between, befitting her talent as a comedy writer.
She just put something new together, as she puts it "made only to earn smiles during a global pandemic." As you'll notice, it doesn't quite have the production value of a Randy Rainbow video, but far-better is her purple wardrobe. She also includes the lyrics on the YouTube page, so for those who want to sing along, I'll post them below (helpful too since the acoustics aren't recording-studio quality). To her great credit, she gives credit to the original song and writers. And as she said, this is "wildly unrehearsed" and filmed just today --
"How Lovely When News Was Stupid"
Music by Charles Strouse
New Lyric by Shelly Goldstein (with all respect Lee Adams' original: "How Lovely to Be A Woman" )
Back when the news was a trivial pursuit
We would watch from coast to coast
As all the crazy tabloid anchors chattered.
Then came the virus and the horror
And a nation unprepared
Gasped as headlines made us scared!
Overnight we had to deal with things that -- mattered.
How lovely when news was stupid
And lewd and crude and trite.
When brilliance from South Korea was
Our only Parasite
GOOP selling vagina candles
A Real Housewife’s fake breasts
When CNN hourly updates
Clocked Aunt Becky’s arrests
Madonna’s knee got hurt
Mick Jagger bought a yurt
That day when Taylor Swift
Got real miffed
Said Scooter done her like dirt
When Bieber or Lindsay Lohan
Were known for Page Six brawls
And Patriots from New England
Deflated Brady’s balls
When 24/7 wasn’t pure fear
The days when “Corona” was just -- a beer
Kardashians who cheat
Or Gaga dressed in meat
That time when the wrong flick
Won Best Pic
But Moonlight couldn’t be beat!
When gossip & silly headlines
Were offered to us carte blanche
And politics was a punchline
Served up by Bruce Vilanch!
When all of this crap caused outrage and fuss
How lovely when news was stupid – like us.
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