Songs about the Stars

I'm not really a filker.

But sometimes I get a tune stuck in my head that won't go away until it has acquired a completely new set of words... and I've started to notice a definite theme emerging! So here is my film-fan filk page, dedicated to those who have ended up as the subjects of my lyrics: that odd couple, Buster Keaton and Errol Flynn.

Keaton, typically self-possessed The Flynn grin


Errol Flynn

Flynn's most famous rôle was, of course, as the daring Technicolor hero of The Adventures of Robin Hood.

The song associated with Robin Hood by generations of British school children is not however anything to do with Warner Brothers' famous epic; it's the catchy theme song from the 1950s TV series of the same name, immortalised in the memorable — and preposterous — playground lyric "Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen..."

And it was the tune of this song that inspired the filk:

  VERSE:
  Hollywood was calling, and he came to find his due
  A fighter ever looking for a fight
  His charm was like the sunshine when his smile came flashing through
  And his eyes danced fit to set hearts alight

CHORUS: Errol Flynn, Errol Flynn, on the silver screen Errol Flynn, Errol Flynn, stealing every scene Quick to defend, swift with a grin — Errol Flynn, Errol Flynn, Errol Flynn...

VERSE: His heart was with the ocean, but the women got a share — He drank and brawled without a thought of cost; His star burned out and fell to earth and left him standing there But his laughter and warmth were never lost

CHORUS — ad nauseam :-)


Buster Keaton

I was introduced to the novelty song Barney Google as part of a discussion of period songs featuring the cinema: while the eponymous character and his racehorse 'Sparkplug' starred in a cartoon strip of the era, the song turns out not actually to have a lot to do with 1920s film — barring a mention of Rudolph Valentino and Douglas Fairbanks — but it does prove to have a tendency to worm its way into your brain and go round and round in there all day!

The discovery of a sizeable cult of adoring female fans on the 'net produced, by a process of cross-fertilisation, the following riff on the Valentino verse:

VERSE:
Who's the greatest comic that
 the movies ever knew?
And who's the man that all the critics
 take their hats off to?
No, it isn't Charlie Chaplin
That the fangirls rave about:
When he's on screen no smile is seen —
But how the laughs ring out!

CHORUS: (Why it's that) Buster Keaton who can say it all with his eyes, Buster Keaton is the master of surprise; When you think you know what's next, The laughter's where you don't expect — Buster Keaton, who can say it all with his eyes!

Keaton in German

The final entry on this page, meanwhile, is not strictly speaking filk at all; it's more in the nature of a straightforward verse translation (at least so far as any song with such a tightly-knit rhyme-scheme can ever be described as 'straightforward' to translate...)

In 1928, Friedrich Holländer used the world-famous Keaton as the subject for a German cabaret number, Meine Schwester liebt den Buster — a modern performance of which can be found as a video online. The narrator is complaining that his sister has no interest in men but only in the cinema... but the chorus reveals the true reason for this; she's completely obsessed with Buster Keaton!

Oh, my sister worships Buster,
 worships Keaton,
The face she's sweet on
 in every man.
All other men are fleeting
 next to Keaton,
Her big-screen treat on
 each day she can.
All the others lose their lustre
 next to Buster,
And she sighs for him all year in tender fluster!
Oh, my sister worships Buster,
 worships Keaton,
And Chaplin's beaten
 where she's concerned!
Meine Schwester liebt den Buster,
liebt den Keaton,
und sie sieht'n
in jedem Mann.
Alle Männer sind nur Nieten
gegen Keaton,
und sie sieht'n
sich täglich an.
Alle Männer sind nur Rester
gegen Buster,
und sie schwärmt für ihn von Neujahr bis Sylvester!
Meine Schwester liebt den Buster,
liebt den Keaton,
und sie zieht'n
dem Chaplin vor!


I also host a collection of Harry Potter Christmas filks — not written by me!
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