From 1999 to 2004-ish, I was one of the contributing writers for Garrison Keillor's renowned radio show "A Prairie Home Companion." I learned a lot of things there, mostly how to spell 'prairie." It was a solid gig and I'm proud of my work there. But, like any other job, there were...things...
Yeah, it's been a while since my last PHC entry. I submitted my last bit to them at Christmas 2006, then nothing until April. And late April, at that. My memories of my time with PHC actually ended in 2005. I was surprised I had as many later submissions as I did. And no recollection as to why I resumed attempting to send PHC my material. I know for a fact nothing else got picked. There was no feedback. I even went through a time where a book publisher contacted me about a book I wrote but only if I could get GK to mention on air. I asked GK and never got a response. I didn't submit again until June, for the end of the season. I did resume in sending material in for the 2007-08 season, but more infrequently. I even have a couple of things into 2008. But we were winding down now.
As for the piece itself; One spring I got to talking with someone and graduation was coming up and for some reason we decided that there weren't any good graduation songs to celebrate with. And that bothered me. So much so, that I ended up writing two songs. Of course, they were parodies. The first was "My Diploma," a take on "My Chironna" with actually got produced by American Comedy Network. The second was this. PHC didn't use it. I did a pretty slick screenplay (Faking Reality) that got optioned about some high school seniors, so I worked a scene into that and used the song there. That is still in limbo. Thanks to the wonders of AI, I created a slick-sounding but totally non-parody version of the song, which I embedded below.
As for the piece itself; One spring I got to talking with someone and graduation was coming up and for some reason we decided that there weren't any good graduation songs to celebrate with. And that bothered me. So much so, that I ended up writing two songs. Of course, they were parodies. The first was "My Diploma," a take on "My Chironna" with actually got produced by American Comedy Network. The second was this. PHC didn't use it. I did a pretty slick screenplay (Faking Reality) that got optioned about some high school seniors, so I worked a scene into that and used the song there. That is still in limbo. Thanks to the wonders of AI, I created a slick-sounding but totally non-parody version of the song, which I embedded below.
Oh, Diploma!
Oh, diploma; what the class gets graduation day
And the campus grounds fill with caps and gowns
As the seniors rule all they survey
Oh, diploma
Ev’ry kid gets sheepie skin good-byes
Every end of June they play that tune
Makin’ students into alumni
We got the old parchment in hand
And it only cost a couple grand!
And when we say
Phi Beta Kappa hey!
We're only sayin'
You're doin' fine,
With diplomas
Students loans now to pay!
And the campus grounds fill with caps and gowns
As the seniors rule all they survey
Oh, diploma
Ev’ry kid gets sheepie skin good-byes
Every end of June they play that tune
Makin’ students into alumni
We got the old parchment in hand
And it only cost a couple grand!
And when we say
Phi Beta Kappa hey!
We're only sayin'
You're doin' fine,
With diplomas
Students loans now to pay!
