Stallman says he briefly considered
putting together a rock band himself dedicated to
satirizing the Liverpool group.
"I wanted to call it Tokyo Rose and the Japanese Beetles."
Given his current love for international folk music, I
ask Stallman if he had a similar affinity for Bob Dylan
and the other folk musicians of the early 1960s.
Stallman shakes his head. "I did like Peter, Paul and
Mary," he says. "That reminds me of a great filk."
When I ask for a definition of "filk," Stallman
explains the concept. A filk, he says, is a popular
song whose lyrics have been replaced with parody
lyrics. The process of writing a filk is called
filking, and it is a popular activity among hackers and
science-fiction aficionados. Classic filks include "On
Top of Spaghetti," a rewrite of "On Top of Old Smokey,"
and "Yoda," filk-master "Weird" Al Yankovic's Star
Wars-oriented rendition of the Kinks tune, "Lola."
Stallman asks me if I would be interested in hearing
the folk filk. As soon as I say yes, Stallman's voice
begins singing in an unexpectedly clear tone: How much
wood could a woodchuck chuck,If a woodchuck could chuck
wood?How many poles could a polak lock,If a polak could
lock poles?How many knees could a negro grow,If a negro
could grow knees?The answer, my dear, is stick it in
your ear.
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