Singin' in the Bathtub

"Singing in the Bathtub" is a song written in 1929 by Michael H. Cleary, with lyrics by Herb Magidson and Ned Washington for the film The Show of Shows.The Show of Shows was Warner Bros.' answer to MGM's The Hollywood Revue of 1929, and "Singing in the Bathtub" spoofs Hollywood Revue's song "Singin' in the Rain". In Show of Shows, the number features an enormous bathtub and is performed by Winnie Lightner and a chorus of male performers (some dressed as women) wearing antiquated bathing suits.

The song was recorded by many performers of the time, including Guy Lombardo,Dorothy Provine,Dick Robertson,King Ben Nawahi,Gracie Fields,Vaughn De Leath,The Georgians, and Danny Kaye, and more recently by Robert Crumb,John Lithgow,Mic Conway and Mandy Patinkin. In Vaughn DeLeath's rendition of the song, she sings the line "the ring around the bathtub is a rainbow to me" as "a rainbow from me", substantially changing its meaning.

The lyrics often include a quotation of the title air from "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles".

All About That Bass

"All About That Bass" is the debut single by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor. Released by Epic Records on June 30, 2014, it was recorded for her 2014 debut EP and her 2015 studio album, both named Title. Trainor co-wrote "All About That Bass" with its producer Kevin Kadish; it is a bubblegum pop and doo-wop song that draws influences from various musical genres including R&B, hip hop and country. Lyrically, it discusses positive body image.

"All About That Bass" received favorable reviews from music critics for its melody and vintage sound, though some accused Trainor of anti-feminism for its lyrics. It was named one of the best songs of 2014 by several publications and received Grammy Award nominations for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The song sold 11 million copies worldwide, becoming the fourth best-selling song of 2014 and one of the best-selling singles of all time.

Fatima Robinson directed the song's accompanying music video, a viral online success that was noted for its visuals and lighthearted nature. The song inspired a variety of viral videos and tributes, while Vogue recognized it as part of "the era of the big booty." Trainor has performed it on television and at various concerts, and notable artists have recorded cover versions. Trainor regularly performed the song during her 2015 concert tours, the That Bass Tour and the MTrain Tour.

About That

About That (Про это) is a poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky written during the self-imposed two-months "exile" after a row with Lilya Brik. It was finished on 11 February 1923 and published on 29 March 1923, originally by the LEF magazine. The poem's first separate edition was illustrated by Alexander Rodchenko who in his montages used photographs made by Mayakovsky and Lilya Brik.

History

In summer 1922 Lilya Brik fell in love with Alexander Krasnoshchyokov, the then head of the newly formed Prombank. Mayakovsky was outraged, a quarrel ensued and the terms of the two-month separation have been agreed between the two. As a result, the poet departed to his 'boat-room' at the Lybyansky Lane, 3/6, "banned" from visiting the Briks at their Vodopyany Lane home. There, working for 16-20 hours a day, he wrote About That. On 11 February it was finished. "That was arguably my best poem in terms of the editorial work done upon it," he later wrote in a preface to the compilation This Year's Things.

Virginia

Virginia (ⁱ/vərˈdʒɪnjə/ vər-JIN-yə, UK /vərˈdʒɪniə/ vər-JIN-ee-ə), officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state located in the South Atlantic region of the United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" due to its status as the first colonial possession established in mainland British America, and "Mother of Presidents" because eight U.S. presidents were born there, more than any other state. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million.

The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony. Slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colony's early politics and plantation economy. Virginia was one of the 13 Colonies in the American Revolution and joined the Confederacy in the American Civil War, during which Richmond was made the Confederate capital and Virginia's northwestern counties seceded to form the state of West Virginia. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, both major national parties are competitive in modern Virginia.

Parody

A parody (/ˈpærədi/; also called spoof, send-up, take-off or lampoon), in use, is a work created to imitate, make fun of, or comment on an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of satiric or ironic imitation. As the literary theorist Linda Hutcheon puts it, "parody … is imitation, not always at the expense of the parodied text." Another critic, Simon Dentith, defines parody as "any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice." Parody may be found in art or culture, including literature, music (although "parody" in music has an earlier, somewhat different meaning than for other art forms), animation, gaming and film.

The writer and critic John Gross observes in his Oxford Book of Parodies, that parody seems to flourish on territory somewhere between pastiche ("a composition in another artist's manner, without satirical intent") and burlesque (which "fools around with the material of high literature and adapts it to low ends"). Meanwhile, the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot distinguishes between the parody and the burlesque, "A good parody is a fine amusement, capable of amusing and instructing the most sensible and polished minds; the burlesque is a miserable buffoonery which can only please the populace." Historically, when a formula grows tired, as in the case of the moralistic melodramas in the 1910s, it retains value only as a parody, as demonstrated by the Buster Keaton shorts that mocked that genre.