PARODY OF THE WEEK: What to do...

PARODY OF THE WEEK: What to do with Cat Stevens? Now known as Yousuf Islam, the ex-popster has raised ire by reportedly supporting the Ayatollah Khomeini’s demands for the death of author Salman (“The Satanic Verses”) Rushdie. Some deejays have burned his records, others simply refuse to play them. Satirist Harry Shearer, whose “Le Show” airs Sundays at 11 a.m. on KCRW-FM, has a better idea--he is performing Stevens’ hits with new, Ayatollah-approved lyrics. Shearer’s version of “Maybe You’re Right” goes in part:

The Ayatollah’s right, maybe you’re wrong,

You’ve had this freedom of speech thing going for too long,

We cut off your hands, we tear out your tongue,

Because the way you treat the prophet, babe, it kinda stung,

I was sensitive then, but a lot more now,

Swords will be beaten into plowshares, only when we need a plow,

The Western veneer, it never really clung,

So the way you treat the prophet, babe, it really stung. . . .