A Saffron Walden man who has created a series of parody videos is looking to raise money for charity this Christmas with his own version of Slade’s Merry Xmas Everybody.
Jim Mortleman, 46, who lives at Fitzpiers in the town, has made several misheard lyrics videos using iconic songs, which have gone viral on the internet.
In the videos, song lyrics are recreated in sync with the original songs using only screenshots of people’s Twitter and Facebook profiles.
Mr Mortleman released Tweeted Love in the summer - a take on Soft Cell’s Tainted Love - and a host of celebrities, including Al Murray, Richard Osman, Dave Gorman, Adam Buxton and Caitlin Moran retweeted the video, which also featured on Newsnight.
Now he is looking to raise as much money as possible for homeless charity Shelter UK by asking people who have watched his new video - Merry Twits-Mash Everybody - to donate £1 via a Justgiving page or by text message.
Mr Mortleman said: “It started out as a bit of fun, with some online punning friends when I did the first line to David Bowie’s Let’s Dance by using people’s Linkedin profiles.
“From there we started doing more and did Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Tweeted Love really got some traction online this summer, with celebrity endorsements.
“On average, the videos take between 50 and 100 hours to put together, with all the trawling through Twitter and editing. Although Merry Twits-Mash Everybody took around 200 hours to complete as I was working alone.
“Because we use copyrighted songs in their entirety as the soundtrack to our videos, we are not able to make any money from them, but we wanted to make a bit of money for charity this Christmas by asking people to donate if the video made them smile.”
Mr Mortleman said that due to copyright, he cannot be sure that the videos will remain online, as rightsholders have the choice to leave videos online and place advertising on them or take them down.
After a few hours of going live, Merry Twits-Mash Everybody was blocked on YouTube mobile, not by the rightsholders, but by YouTube’s automatic song detection software.
Mr Mortleman has since uploaded the video to another hosting site - Vimeo - so that people can view and share it on a mobile phone.
He said: “I hope that the genuine rightsholders will be gracious enough to let it remain online over the Christmas period so it can raise a few quid for Shelter, after which I’ll happily take it down with the decorations on Twelfth Night.”
To make a donation to Shelter, visit www.justgiving.com/sleighed or text MASH77 £1 to 70070.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here