Though I have done plenty of Hunger Games song parodies from popular movies and musicals, I seemed to have left one out for the two most important players in the Hunger Games, namely Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. Of course, this is because I haven’t found songs I can properly parody with their characters, well, at least ones that don’t come from Jesus Christ Superstar. Nevertheless, Katniss is the hero of the trilogy who begins this story in dire poverty after her father died in a mining explosion when she was 11 and has had to support her mother and sister for years. But when her little sister Prim is reaped to represent District 12 for the 74th Hunger Games, she volunteers to go in her place. Because after all, she couldn’t bear the thought of seeing her kid sister die in a nationally televised teenage death match. And then there’s Peeta, the youngest baker’s son who has dealt with an abusive family and harbored a crush on Katniss since they were 5 years old. But has only interacted with her once before when he took a beating from his mom for burning two loaves of bread that he gave to her, instead of the pigs. This while she was slowly starving to death while scrounging the Mellarks’ place for garbage. Nevertheless, unlike Katniss, Peeta was reaped for the Games and he doesn’t expect to survive because he loves her too much to bear the thought of killing her. But if confessing his love for her on national television can help her chances to win, he will certainly do so because there’s nothing he won’t do to keep her alive.
As for parody, I thought of using “Man of La Mancha (I, Don Quixote)” which is the theme of the musical Man of La Mancha. Now this song is from a musical that debuted in the 1960s and based on the 16th century novel Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes. However, just to take note, Miguel Cervantes wasn’t imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition, he was put in jail for money problems and financial irregularities in his accounts. Yeah, not stuff that’s bound to make you look like a badass. Also, it’s not a faithful adaptation of the novel either. Still, the book is a timeless classic and a parody of the stories of knightly chivalry at the time. But this song is a hero’s song and an intro song. And in this Hunger Games version, I put this during her public appearance with Caesar Flickerman who introduces her. And since she’s the hero, she gets the Don Quixote portion while Peeta gets the Sancho Panza lines. Still, Peeta’s more of a magnetic hero with a great personality and is more of a talker. However, this is mainly Katniss’s song.
“Girl Who’s on Fire (I, Katniss Everdeen)”
Sung by Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark
Caesar Flickerman:
May I set the stage? I shall introduce a girl.
Come, she’ll enter to sit with me from District 12!
Her name… Katniss Everdeen… a coal miner kid,
16 years old….possibly underweight… eyes
that burn with the fire of inner vision. At Reaping,
volunteered to take her little sister’s place. Has
used a bow and arrow to hunt to provide for
poor, starving family for years since her father’s
tragic death in a mining accident. Not particularly
attractive, but she’s seen as a rising contender
for the 74th Hunger games… but whether she gets
out of the arena alive will be the question that
has yet to be answered. But no longer shall she
be the plain Katniss Everdeen from District 12…
but a formidable tribute known as –
Katniss Everdeen, the Girl Who’s on Fire!
Katniss:
Hear me now
Oh thou bleak and unbearable Panem,
Thou art base and debauched as can be,
And I a poor girl from 12 with her arrows and bow
Will make the odds ever in favor to me!
I am I, Katniss Everdeen,
The Girl Who’s on Fire,
My destiny calls and I go,
As I promised my young sister
I’ll try to win this time,
So I’ll survive so I’ll return home.
Survive so I’ll return home,
Into the arena I go!
Peeta:
I’m Peeta! Yes, I’m Peeta!
I do what I can so she can win.
I’ll show them they won’t own me,
I love her and hope she will live!
Katniss:
Hear me, I’ve volunteered
To save my little Prim!
Cause I know that she wouldn’t last,
But as I wear my Mockingjay pin
I promised her I’ll triumph at last!
I am I, Katniss Everdeen,
The Girl Who’s on Fire,
My destiny calls and I go,
As I promised my young sister,
I’ll try to win this time,
So I’ll survive so I’ll return home.
Peeta:
I’m Peeta! Yes, I’m Peeta!
I do what I can so she can win.
I’ll show them they won’t own me,
I love her and hope she will live!
Katniss and Peeta:
Survive so I’ll {she’ll} return home
Into the arena we go!
The Lone Girl in a Crowd 