Comedian Randy Rainbow’s career satirizing politics through new, cutting lyrics to show tunes has brought him praise from the likes of Stephen Sondheim. But as Rainbow (yes, that’s his real name) sees it, he hopes people see what he’s really trying to do – “be as much of a spoonful of sugar as I can in these troubling times, use comedy as my weapon of choice and get people to laugh instead of cry and sing instead of scream.” Here’s a look at a few of his greatest hits.
Parody Title: “I Won’t Vote Trump!”
Original Song: “I Won’t Grow Up” from “Peter Pan”
Message: That Rainbow won’t, well, he won’t vote for Trump.
Ingenious Lyric #1: “Don’t waste your bad breath on me / I’d sooner cast my vote for Cardi B.”
Ingenious Lyric #2: “I won’t vote Trump / I don’t want another four / and if someone steals my mailbox / I will build a hundred more.”
Parody Title: “Kamala!”
Original Song: “Camelot” from the Lerner-Lowe musical about the legend of King Arthur
Message: Kamala Harris is pretty damn great.
Ingenious Lyric #1: “She sold me when I saw / her confront Kavanaugh / for no one makes a grown man cry like she can / Kamala”
Ingenious Lyric #2: “She’s come to save the day / girl, don’t get in her way”
Parody Title: “Gee, Anthony Fauci”
Original Song: “Gee, Officer Krupke” from “West Side Story”
Message: As one of his lyrics says, “Please save us, Fauci, we’re in hell.”
Ingenious Lyric #1: “You follow the science / on facts you rely / you only want us not to die”
Ingenious Lyric #2: “Anthony Fauci / their strategy sucks/ they slander all the experts and promote all the schmucks”
Parody Title: “Poor Deplorable Troll”
Original Song: Ursula’s “Poor Unfortunate Soul” from “The Little Mermaid”
Message: The “scared” president “wallows in self-pity.”
Ingenious Lyric #1: “The president says, ‘cut out all the testing’ / a notion health officials find bizarre/ but, see, he’s terribly annoyed / by all the dead and unemployed / because he only cares about his own PR”
Ingenious Lyric #2: “All your wacky, racist rants / have every pundit, pro and poll / saying you’ll lose your election / like you’ve lost your self-control”
Parody Title: “Cover You’re Freakin’ Face!”
Original Song: “Put on a Happy Face” from “Bye Bye Birdie”
Message: “Don’t you think you should be following CDC guidelines and lead by example?”
Ingenious Lyric #1: “Although you should require us / to do what’s right to do / you’re siding with the virus / ’cause you’re a virus too”
Ingenious Lyric #2: “And in the same way testing less / would make COVID just quit / maybe if we can’t see your mouth / you won’t say stupid s—”
Parody Title: “The Bunker Boy”
Original Song: “The Jitterbug,” which was edited out of “The Wizard of Oz”
Message: Calls Trump a coward for “hiding in the basement” when protestors showed up outside the White House.
Ingenious Lyric #1: “His Adderall kicks in / and since it makes him kinda hyper / he acts like he’s a big shot / but he’s scared he’ll wet his diaper”
Ingenious Lyric #2: “A commander in chief / might address all the grief / and what’s happening out in the streets / But he’s only a clown / so he hides underground / and he sits on the toilet and tweets”
Parody Title: “A Spoonful of Clorox”
Original Song: “A Spoonful of Sugar” from “Mary Poppins”
Message: The president suggests that a spoonful of Clorox makes your temperature go down.
Ingenious Lyric #1: “A politician who distracts / has very little time for facts / the scientists he’s hired are perplexed / While Dr. Birx is ’bout to barf / and hang herself with her own scarf / he diatribes and recklessly prescribes”
Ingenious Lyric #2: “Some Pledge on your pancakes makes your coronavirus pass / if it gives you gas / try some beach in your beer and shove a flashlight up your a—”
Original Song: “Sandy” from “Grease”
Message: Rainbow is voicing his overwhelming love for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Ingenious Lyric #1: “Oh Andy, baby / you’re so strong and rational / from now on I / identify / as Cuomosexual”
Ingenious Lyric #2: “Andy, can’t ya see, I’m in quarantine / A nervous wreck / and scurred as heck / of CO-O-VID-19 / But you bring hope / when I can’t cope / I guess I’m saying ay-ay-ay-oh, I / love you so, oh Andy”
Original Song: “Adelaide’s Lament” from “Guys and Dolls”
Message: That dang coronavirus is everywhere.
Ingenious Lyric #1: “You can spray all the hand sanitizer wherever the virus lurks / but good luck finding any on Amazon or Bath and Bodyworks”
Ingenious Lyric #2: “And you click on your favorite ‘Real Housewives’ to put your poor mind at ease / then they blow up your phone with alerts every time they hear someone sneeze”
Parody Title: “He’s Just a Girl Who’ll Quid Pro Quo”
Original Song: “I Cain’t Say No” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!”
Message: The song title says it all.
Ingenious Lyric #1: “He’s just a girl who’ll quid pro quo / blackmail’s his fav’rite response / He’ll badger any friend or foe / until he gets what he wants.”
Ingenious Lyric #2: “He’s just a fool who’ll gladly throw / any old country a bone / long as they bow to his throne / since he can’t win on his own”
Parody Title: “Cheeto Christ Stupid-Czar”
Original Song: “Jesus Christ Superstar”
Message: Calls out Trump’s questionable statements, including his declaration that he’s the “King of Israel” and the “chosen one.”
Ingenious Lyric #1: “Cheeto Christ, Cheeto Christ / He’s like if Jesus were pumpkin spiced.”
Ingenious Lyric #2: “He can’t walk on water or give sight to the blind / but he can change a falsehood to a fact with his mind”
Parody Title: “The Donald Trump Cell Block Tango”
Original Song: “The Cell Block Tango” from “Chicago”
Message: An unusual number of people in Trump’s orbit have been indicted.
Ingenious Lyric #1: “They had it comin’ / they had it comin’ / they were the best that he could find / and then you guessed it / they got arrested / and now he’s losing his freakin’ mind”
Ingenious Lyric #2: “Just let Melania go free / but she’s complicit / so she’ll just visit / I hope for her sake, not conjugally”
Parody Title: “Trump’s Favorite Things”
Original Song: “My Favorite Things” from “The Sounds of Music”
Message: Let’s just say, raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens are not of Trump’s list.
Ingenious Lyric #1: “KGB play dates and absolute power / porn stars and playmates who charge by the hour / puppets at Fox News who dance on his strings / these are a few of his favorite things”
Ingenious Lyric #2: “When your life sucks / or for God’s sake / when you’re ’bout to snap / take comfort in knowing at least you still make the rest of us feel / like crap”
