I did not know that

 

I'm sure most of us know of the poem "Desiderata", published by Max Ehrmann in 1927.  Its original text may be found here, if you're interested.  It was originally little known, but became very popular during the 1960's and 1970's, probably spurred on by the "Hippie" era.  A well-known musical audio recording of the poem was published by Les Crane in 1971.  It became well-known for its chorus:

You are a child of the universe
No less than the trees and the stars;
You have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

What I didn't know until yesterday was that in 1972, a musical response to the poem was published, titled "Deteriorata".  Wikipedia reports:

The parody was written by Tony Hendra for National Lampoon magazine, and was recorded for the album Radio Dinner. Narrator Norman Rose read the parody poem and Melissa Manchester was the background vocalist, both closely tracking the format of Crane's original. Christopher Guest wrote the music.

The original musical version may be found here, and an annotated text version here.  The chorus shows, shall we say, a rather less reverent approach to life than the original!

You are a fluke of the universe
You have no right to be here
And whether you can hear it or not
The universe is laughing behind your back

As a man of faith, I naturally hew more to the original version than the follow-up.  However, as a human being, I have to giggle at the snark factor of "Deteriorata".  I suppose, in due time, we'll all find out which is the most accurate!

Peter