DeROK Goes Platinum
Anybody that really knows me can tell you what the best six weeks of the year are for me. And for those of you who don't, I'll explain what they are. For the past seven years from July to mid-August I've worked at Cornerstone Day Camp. Now I've always been known to be one of the most creative of the counselors, and so I take on the responsibility of making sure that the kids have some extra things to do besides playing kickball and dodge ball everyday. I've come up with some mind bending scavenger hunts, game shows, and even my own talk show, "Derek Springer" to mix things up and keep the kids excited. However, there is one thing that I've created that perhaps some of the DeROK.com faithful will also get a kick out of, and that is my songs. You see, one day on a field trip to Six Flags Great Adventure I came up with a little parody of "I Want It That Way" for the kids. It was an instant classic. And so on the rest of those long, hot, humid, noisy bus rides I managed to write a few more. Over time I've been able to record these tunes, and now they're all available for download exclusively at DeROK.com. I've compiled ten of my greatest hits for you to listen to. Hopefully, you'll laugh more at the words than my attempts at singing, but I've never seen myself competing on "American Idol" anyway.
Parody of "I Want It That Way" by The Backstreet Boys
This is by far my most famous work of all time. It's really catchy, but then again so was the original song. Unbelievably, this song was written in under fifteen minutes during a brief moment of epiphany. While not my personal favorite of the bunch, it is the defining work of my music career.
Parody of "In The Still Of The Night" by Boyz II Men
This is actually the first song I ever wrote. On the van ride back from leadership conference my junior year of high school, my good buddy Yun Souk Kang tried to get a little four part harmony going among the guys by singing the original song. We joked about performing it in chapel, and I started to change the words so we could. The result is this song, which was by far the most difficult recording job I have ever done.
Parody of "Bye Bye Bye" by N'Sync
Having already parodied the Backstreet Boys greatest hit, I knew I had to take a shot at N'Sync's newest chart topper. I wanted to try to keep it along the fast food lines, and the Chinese food theme fit perfectly. This song is definitely one of my most popular.
Parody of "Hit Me Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears
Having made my mark among the boy bands, it was time to try a song by a female. And what song could be better to start with than Britney's greatest hit? It's lyrically one of my finest songs. However, if Ms. Spears were a guy she'd talk like James Earl Jones. It might not sound it, but she sings incredibly low for a girl. So I went from stretching out the high notes with Timberlake to ending up down in the basement with Brit. So forgive the deep notes, they only work for Britney.
Parody of "Swear It Again" by Westlife
Inspired by my dawg Patrok, "Nair It Again" is definitely my personal favorite. This ballad comes straight from the heart and deals with one of the most difficult aspects of any relationship: hair removal. It's the one I consider to be the most clever and best sounding.
Parody of "Say My Name" by Destiny's Child
Without fail, the Cornerstone kids always manage to get addicted to the most immoral Top 40 song of the summer. They've managed to shock us all and make us wonder what their parents were thinking when they bust out "What Would You Do?" or "Hot In Herre" on a bus ride. Although it's a clean one, "Say My Name" was definitely a favorite among the campers, so I was inspired to put a little Biblical twist on it.
Parody of "Sometimes" by Britney Spears
This is one of Britney's smaller hits, but it ended up being one of my most inventive songs yet. I liked the tune and was fiddling around with possible lyrics to no avail. But a light bulb went on one day when they played this song at Wendy's. "Sometimes I'm Ron" just popped into my head, and the rest was easy.
Parody of "Pop" by N'Sync
Mop was one of the songs I created after I had compiled an album, so it's not as widely known as some of the others. However, in my opinion, it's one of my best songs. This song was the first where I was able to really use the recording equipment to its full potential, and so it has a higher sound quality than most songs.
Parody of "Breathless" by The Corrs
This song was written during the game show craze a couple of years ago. The only background track that I found wasn't of the highest quality, so the song doesn't sound as good as some of the others. However, I thought the lyrics were good enough to warrant putting it up on this site. Any song mentioning Bob Barker in it's bridge definitely deserves some attention.
Parody of "Superman Song" by Five For Fighting
Anyone who hung around me freshmen year knew that I was the cheap one of the group. I never let myself be deprived of something important, but to drop ten bucks on a burger and fries at Denny's at three in the morning when I could spend three on a Grasshopper Sundae wasn't my thing. Anyway, all the joking about my cheapness helped inspire this song.
