"La Vie Deafie": A Song Parody

In going through old college papers and essays, I came across this song parody that I co-authored with other Deaf students and interpreting majors. We took the song "La vie Boheme" (the first part) from the 1996 Broadway musical Rent and rewrote the lyrics, adding a Deaf culture twist to them. We did this purely for fun (and probably to avoid studying for tests and finishing up papers during Finals Week). For those who are not familiar with the original lyrics by the late Jonathan Larson, a link is provided at the bottom of the song lyrics.



Do keep in mind that the viewpoints of the characters are not necessarily the viewpoints of the authors, and we only wanted to the highlight the diversity of the Deaf/HOH community at large. Enjoy!

LA VIE DEAFIE (A Parody of LA VIE BOHEME)

ANGEL
What died?

BENNY
My cellphone battery

ANGEL
(point) Hearing (shakes head)

BENNY
YOU MAKE FUN YET I'M THE ONE
ATTEMPTING TO DO SOME GOOD
OR DO YOU REALLY WANT A LANGUAGE
THAT EVEN MONKEYS ARE TAUGHT TO USE?
DEAFIE, DEAFIE...
A FALLACY IN YOUR HEAD
VIVA LA PAROLA!
DEAFHOOD IS DEAD.

MARK
DEARLY BELOVED,
WE GATHER HERE
TO SHARE OUR GOODBYES

COLLINS, ROGER
(signing in foreign sign languages)

MARK
HERE IT DIES, NO ONE KNEW ITS WORTH
THE FIRST GREAT LANGUAGE
OF MOTHER EARTH
BY THESE RIGHTS WHEN WE
CELEBRATE THE BIRTH
AT THAT LITTLE SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF IN PARIS
WE RAISE OUR GLASS, YOU BET YOUR ASS
TO... LA... VIE... DEAFIE....

ALL
LA VIE DEAFIE!
LA VIE DEAFIE!
LA VIE DEAFIE!
LA VIE DEAFIE!

MARK
TO SIGNS OF INSPIRATION
FINGERS CREATING, MAKING
GESTURES THAT MEAN SOMETHING
THE NEED TO EXPRESS
TO COMMUNICATE
TO GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN
A SHOW OF HANDS, COME ON!
TO ACCEPTANCE, TO CREATION
TO OPEN AND CLOSED CAPTIONS
TO STARVING FOR ATTENTION
HATING TRANSLATION, HATING PRETENSION
NOT TO MENTION OF COURSE,
HATING AGB AND MILAN!

NOT PRACTICING YOUR SPEECH
EVERYDAY TO PLEASE THEM
TO SIGNS - TO PROTEST -
TO EMG - TO CHOICE
TO THE N-A-D
TO THE BABY SIGN FAD
TRU-BIZ DEAF, OR HARD OF HEARING - NOT HEARING!

ALL
LA VIE DEAFIE
LA VIE DEAFIE

MR GREY
Huh?

MAUREEN
HEY MISTER,
WE'RE CAPITAL-D DEAF!
(beat)

WAITER
SO THAT'S FIVE DEAF SIGNERS,
FOUR HARD OF HEARING,
THREE DEAF STUDIES MAJORS,
TWO CODAS THAT CAN SIGN,
AND ONE DEAF WITHOUT SIGN SKILLS?

ROGER
How?

COLLINS
HE UNDERSTANDS.

MIMI
GESTURES THAT!

WAITER
AND THIRTEEN SIGNERS IN ALL?
THAT RIGHT?

ALL
A-S-L!

MIMI, ANGEL
TO HAND-CRAFTED SIGNS
MADE UP BY THE THIRD WORLD DEAF
TO TC, TO SPEECH, TO ASL, AND CUED SPEECH
TO BLACK SHIRTS, TO LINE 21, TO 'I LOVE YOU'
TO JACK GANNON AND 'DEAF HERITAGE'

MAUREEN, COLLINS
EXPRESSION, INFLECTION,
TO CAUSING A COMMOTION,
AMBITION, EQUATION

MARK
DEAF PRESIDENT NOW

MAUREEN, COLLINS
ADVOCATION, A-D-A
TO LAWSUITS WHEN IT'S DUE

COLLINS
TO VEDITZ

ANGEL
TO EASTMAN

FOUR GIRLS
TO 'SIGNING TIME' TOO

COLLINS, ROGER
MARLEE, BERNARD, LINDA, AND PHYLLIS

COLLINS
DUMMY HOY

ROGER
WILLIAM STOKOE

MAUREEN
TO DEAF WAY!

ALL
TO CLERC, TO COGSWELL,
THOMAS GALLAUDET TOO

MARK, MIMI
WHY GALLY STUDENTS MARCHED
TO THE CAPITOL
TO BLOW OFF THE HEARIE!

ALL
LA VIE DEAFIE

MR GREY
DEAFIE?

MAUREEN, JOANNE
PAH! DEAF POWER!

ANGEL, COLLINS
CODAs!

MARK, ANGEL, MIMI
DEAFIES, HEARIES, INTERPRETERS
HEARING AIDS, COCHLEAR IMPLANTS,
F M SYSTEMS
TTY, TEXT, SIDEKICKS, FACETIME
'SWITCHED AT BIRTH', 'DANCING WITH THE STARS'
'CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD'

ALL
TO SORENSON, TO PURPLE, TO SPRINT
C-S-D
VIDEO RELAY, ASL STUDENTS A-B-C
THE DEAF NOD - LIPREADING AND GETTING BY

COLLINS
TO NAME SIGNS

ALL
TO CODE OF ETHICS, IT'S BETWEEN TERP AND ME
TO PSE

BENNY
Waiter... waiter... waiter...
Waiter!

ALL
LA VIE DEAFIE

COLLINS
In honor of Deafhood, an impromptu salon will commence immediately following dinner. Maureen Johnson, just back from her spectacular one-night engagement at ASL Slam Live! will perform an ABC story and attempt to spell 'cat'and 'dog' at the same time, which she ain't ever learned!

ROGER
And Kyle will preview his new documentary reflecting the cochlear implant controversy within the Deaf community -

MARK
And Mimi Marquez will perform Ling's famous listening test to the sounds of ahhh... oooh... eeehhh... shhh... sss... mmmm...
And Roger will attempt to interpret a totally confuisng English song that doesn't remind us of ASL-1 students!

COLLINS
Angel Dumott Schunard - will perform the latest Sean Forbes song while drumming away with her invisible percussion band.

ANGEL
And Collins will recount his exploits as a prankster and not being Deaf responsible, including the successful reprogramming of the RIT virtual reality equipment to self destruct as it broadcasts the words:

ALL
ACTUAL REALITY
ACT UP
FIGHT AUDISM!



***


The original lyrics to the song can be found here. In addition, almost all of the videos on the Rent YouTube Channel (EverythingIsRENT) is captioned, and there are partial video footage of "La vie Boheme" available for viewing.