Subject: Weird Al Yankovic
Posted by: brm50diboll
Date: Jan 21 20
Weird Al's career has been too long to fit into one particular era, and he has mocked multiple different genres of music. In this thread, I will discuss Weird Al songs and the original songs that they parodied.
Posted by: brm50diboll
Date: Jan 21 20
Weird Al's career has been too long to fit into one particular era, and he has mocked multiple different genres of music. In this thread, I will discuss Weird Al songs and the original songs that they parodied.
37 replies. On page 2 of 2 pages. 1 2
brm50diboll 
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All right, darn it! Time for the Coolio story. So Coolio has a rap song called "Gangsta's Paradise". As I have said several times before, I am not a fan of rap, but in the interest of historical accuracy, here it is:  https://tinyurl.com/yd3kdu4dI am a Michelle Pfeiffer fan, however. I never have seen "Dangerous Minds" though. Probably a good movie. Anyway, Weird Al likes the song and wants to parody it, and, per his usual routine, he wants to get permission first. So he contacts Coolio's label and tells them of his intentions and they assure him Coolio will be for the idea, so Weird Al proceeds with his parody, including the filming of the video, without ever having spoken personally to Coolio. When Coolio is informed by the guys in his label that Weird Al is doing a parody of "Gangsta's Paradise", he erupts in anger. And not just privately. He makes a public statement attacking Weird Al. But Weird Al is so far into the process by then he refuses to suspend it. So he goes ahead with the release of his parody. Coolio eventually calms down and a few years later retracts his objection to Weird Al's parody. But the story is history by then. Weird Al generally will not do a parody if the artist doesn't give permission. The Coolio story was the big exception, and only because Weird Al was assured that he had Coolio's OK at the time. As a contrast to this story, Weird Al never did a parody of any Prince song, though he wanted to for several of Prince's songs, but Prince steadfastly refused to OK any of Weird Al's requests. Weird Al did take a dig at Prince in "Word Crimes", probably over those refusals. When Prince died, Weird Al announced he would never do a Prince song parody since there was now no way of ever getting permission, although, as stated several times before, permission is not legally required to do parodies (Saturday Night Live and many other comic acts would be out of business if it were). Anyway, Weird Al's controversial parody is "Amish Paradise", and here it is: https://tinyurl.com/yd4ky6kxEven in "Amish Paradise", Weird Al takes a little dig at Prince, with his line "party like it's 1699". Weird Al doesn't have much of a bad side, but if you do manage to get on it, he can't resist taking digs at you in unrelated songs. Reply #21. Jun 05 20, 4:03 PM |
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The actor Richard Harris had come out with a rather successful novelty song called "MacArthur Park". Here it is: https://tinyurl.com/ya8xld93 Now, most of Richard Harris' fine career was in a different era from mine. I do remember him as English Bob in "Unforgiven", as Emperor Marcus Aurelius in "Gladiator" and as the first Albus Dumbledore in the first two "Harry Potter" movies before he died. His singing, however, did not make an impression on me until after he had died. It did, however, make an impression on Weird Al Yankovic, who parodied "MacArthur Park" with his song "Jurassic Park", which I am more familiar with. Anyway, here's Weird Al's "Jurassic Park": https://tinyurl.com/y9u4b4y5Now maybe it's because I'm from a different era, but I have to say I prefer Weird Al's version over the original here. It has much better visuals, what with the cheesy stop action claymation. And, like all Weird Al, it is hilarious. The original "Jurassic Park" movie was my favorite of the whole series (and I read the even better Michael Crichton book as well) and Weird Al does a wonderful job parodying the movie. Reply #22. Jul 08 20, 11:52 AM |
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Emily Ratajkowski Grrrrr! Maybe you thought I wouldn't touch this one, but it's time to discuss "Blurred Lines", the highly controversial video by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams. This song lost a lawsuit to the estate of Marvin Gaye for stealing melody, but that is the least of the controversy over the video. Anyway, here it is (for the record, I prefer the uncensored version myself, but....): https://tinyurl.com/y36py2grYes, Weird Al did go after that one as well. And the result, in my humble opinion, was one of his greatest parodies of all, which in the intervening years has been used to great effect by a generation of English teachers with their students (Weird Al was a high school valedictorian, after all.) Here's "Word Crimes", a work which had considerably more intelligence and effort put into it than the original (but no Emily Ratajkowski). https://tinyurl.com/y6hxhvuxReply #23. Jul 24 20, 12:14 PM |
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Speaking of Pharrell Williams, he did a much less controversial song (though I see it as pure fluff) called "Happy". Here it is: https://tinyurl.com/y2el2nms Like most mindless fluff songs, "Happy" is inescapable. I hear it all over the place. Fortunately, Weird Al got to it, and he must have watched (and studied) the video as well as the song because his parody of it gets right to the heart of what is wrong with this type of song. So here is Weird Al's "Tacky": https://tinyurl.com/y4mh3t4yOnce again, multiple cameos in this video. Truly inspired. Reply #24. Aug 06 20, 6:48 PM |
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All right. It's been too long. Time to get back to my roots - the 80s. From the magnificent "Thriller" album came the great song by the King of Pop (only recently featured in my Forums thread, though), "Beat It": https://tinyurl.com/yypfg797And, yes, that is Eddie Van Halen that does the famous guitar solo in this song. So Weird Al goes after this song with his usual obsession with all things food and eating (why does that theme appear in so many of his parodies?) with his own iconic 80s song, "Eat It": https://tinyurl.com/y2rqrsw2A near perfect shot-for-shot parody of the original video, complete with the exploding guitar at the end of the guitar solo and the gangfight with forks and spoons instead of switchblades. Liked the smiley face on the back of the first gang leader's jacket. The one anomaly here was the ending when Weird Al appears with cat's eyes. That is actually a parody of the end of "Thriller" itself, not "Beat It". Loads of fun. Worth rewatching again and again. Reply #25. Sep 09 20, 10:25 AM |
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By the way, I honestly didn't know Weird Al was the Topic of the Day in Duel today until *after* I made my last post. Just providing a public service here, people. You know, a little research material. (I missed some questions, scored 678, but won my Weird Al Duel tonight.) Reply #26. Sep 09 20, 6:06 PM |
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I think it's time to go back to the early days of Weird Al. First I will look at the classic song from Queen: "Another One Bites The Dust": https://tinyurl.com/y252jpor I tell you - I swear this was a 70s song. I always thought of Queen as a 70s band, though they lasted way past the end of the 70s. But anyway, I was surprised when my Google search on this song turned up that it is from 1980. I'm getting too old - the years are starting to run together. Weird Al's version is, of course, "Another One Rides The Bus": https://tinyurl.com/y3bpcmjcThe clip from Tom Snyder's old "Tomorrow" show makes it clear that in the chronology of all things Weird Al that "My Bologna" clearly *precedes* "Another One Rides The Bus". Nevertheless, "Another One Rides The Bus" is definitely very early Weird Al, with the accordion, the lack of a sophisticated mimic of the original song, the mention of Dr. Demento, and a very frizzy hairdo. Weird Al seems a little out of breath here trying to keep up with the tempo for this song. Let's look at the pure audio version: https://tinyurl.com/yxs7hm9lStill difficult to make out all the lyrics with his rather rushed and out-of-breath singing here. I certainly prefer Al's later, more polished, works, but this song does have some historical value to it. Reply #27. Sep 29 20, 11:57 AM |
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Well, as I have mentioned before elsewhere, Ralph Waldo Emerson said "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds", so I'm going to break with consistency and violate my rule against showing any Weird Al videos that are not a direct parody of an existing song. I do so only because I want to demonstrate that Weird Al is *still active*. Here's something of his that is very, very recent, from 2020 no less. I will dispense with further commentary (which I generally include) because I don't want this to be thought of as any sort of political statement by me. Anyway, from 2020, here's Weird Al Yankovic with: "We're All Doomed": https://tinyurl.com/yyh5ee8dReply #28. Oct 01 20, 7:25 PM |
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I am a fan of Green Day. So here's their song "American Idiot": https://tinyurl.com/yxnh6fgr Now I don't subscribe to their *ahem* worldview, but they have some great songs, despite doing things like playing in front of a 48-star green-striped flag. And "Holiday" is a much better song, anyway, but I digress. So the Weird Al version is "Canadian Idiot": https://tinyurl.com/yyl6krtwA lot of nice touches in there: "Monopoly money", "treat curling just like it's a real sport", "maple syrup and snow's what they export", etc. Just a joke, my Canuck friends. Eh? Reply #29. Oct 08 20, 6:37 PM |
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Weird Al's taste in songs he chooses to parody is quite - how can I best put this? - eclectic. To demonstrate, consider Red Hot Chili Peppers with their song "Under the Bridge": https://tinyurl.com/y62q52fx If Weird Al can do Michael Jackson, Eminem, Chamillionaire, and Nirvana, he can certainly do Red Hot Chili Peppers. But his approach to the Red Hot Chili Peppers was a bit different. Instead of just parodying one song, he parodied two songs at once. The second Red Hot Chili Peppers song that gets parodied (to a greater extent than the first) is "Give It Away": https://tinyurl.com/yxres2xhAnd the song Weird Al skewered both songs with is "Bedrock Anthem": https://tinyurl.com/y3lv79opYou can clearly see the connection between the Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Flintstones. (Sure you can. It's obvious to anyone with a severe untreated psychosis.) Just a slight loosening of associations, that's all you need. Reply #30. Nov 05 20, 1:21 PM |
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Some times I do things in a retro fashion. That is, I see a Weird Al parody and wonder "What song is he parodying with that one?" Then I look it up. (Google is my friend, as you know). Frequently, the original song turns out to be a song I'd never heard of (especially if the original was a rap song, because I hate rap, but for some reason Weird Al likes it - oh well, nobody's perfect.) Anyway, that is the case today. I saw the Weird Al parody first then looked up the original. Nevertheless, as is my custom, I'm going to present the original song first, and that is by a group called The Presidents of the United States of America - "Lump": https://tinyurl.com/y3usak4p Typical 90s alternative rock, not really my bag. But Weird Al's parody of this song is truly inspired. Here's "Gump": https://tinyurl.com/y5t2yql4Great video, recreating multiple scenes from the movie. I particularly liked Ruth Buzzi (from Laugh-In) swatting Gump over the head with her bag and a bald Weird Al high-kicking. Haven't seen the bald look before, Al. Hard to believe you can high-kick like that. Good times. Reply #31. Nov 17 20, 11:08 AM |
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Heck no! I'm not done yet. Not by a long shot! Just taking a little holiday. Anyway, the Crash Test Dummies released a song called "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm". How descriptive. Here it is: https://tinyurl.com/ybl3yq4mSo Weird Al took it and ran with it, building on some news stories in the 90s that had attracted quite a bit of attention with his version: "Headline News": https://tinyurl.com/y7nqzwlpI remember those stories. The whole Tonya Harding thing really was turned into a bunch of tawdry TV movies, for one. The things that people pay attention to on the news. Of course, today's news stories make those 90s stories look like Sesame Street. All Weird Al needs now to capitalize on the current news overload is a good song to parody. Apparently that's the problem. Reply #32. Dec 22 20, 4:59 PM |
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To illustrate how out of touch I am with recent music, there is a song by an artist called Iggy Azalea entitled "Fancy": https://tinyurl.com/y5yrfv6f OK, so it's rap, which is one thing. It seems to have a sort of "Clueless" or "Mean Girls" vibe to it, but if you think I'm dating myself by mentioning those, the reality is I much prefer "Heathers" to either of those movies. But yeah, I completely fail to see the attraction of that song and do not see how it got over a billion views on YouTube. So Weird Al's take on this was "Handy": https://tinyurl.com/y27bpjkgAs I have said several times before, Weird Al's version is vastly more creative and intelligent than the original song that it parodies. My goodness! The state of modern music. Reply #33. Jan 14 21, 7:47 PM |
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So a few years ago this song "Royals" comes out from a group called Lorde: https://tinyurl.com/4mdm3gxb Don't really see what the deal is with that song, but apparently it caught Weird Al's fancy and so he came out with "Foil": https://tinyurl.com/1w72gz6jNow the surprising thing about this video is the sudden change in tone. Weird Al starts off talking about food, which is a typical topic for him. But at the end of the video, when he has the aluminum foil hat on his head, he is going off on a parody of wild conspiracy theorists. I didn't see that one coming and I liked it for that. Reply #34. Feb 18 21, 2:02 PM |
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Ah, Michael Jackson. One of Weird Al's favorite targets. And why not? Both the man and his music are deliciously ripe for parody. And Michael was a pretty good sport about it, as well. Anyway, here's Michael Jackson's "Bad": https://tinyurl.com/vbrzsGoodness! That was long. I get that he was trying to be artsy there, like in "Thriller", and even got the great Martin Scorsese to direct it. I like Scorsese, "Goodfellas" was magnificent, but that video dragged. It was halfway through before there was any music at all, and the song itself is mostly just the same lines repeated over and over. But now here's Weird Al's "Fat": https://tinyurl.com/45b955bnMuch better. Gets right to the point. Sure it's gross, but that's the idea. No politically correct wishy-washiness for Weird Al. The word "fat" has a real meaning, and his video makes its point clearly. Almost as well as Al Bundy's "fat women" jokes on the old "Married...With Children" show, but I digress. Reply #35. Mar 19 21, 12:23 PM |
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No, I haven't forgotten about this thread. I've just been preoccupied with other things. Back in 2011, Lady Gaga came out with "Born This Way": https://tinyurl.com/4z72s84c On watching that video, I am reminded of a line from Audrey Griswold in the original 1983 "National Lampoon's Vacation": "Weird-o-rama!" No matter how absurd a video may be, there is always somebody out there ready to "deconstruct" it as if it has some sort of actual cultural significance, and for that we can turn to The Atlantic: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/71924/I think a better way of analyzing such a work is Weird Al's forte: parody. To that end, he came out with "Perform This Way": https://tinyurl.com/bvwja9trI think Weird Al's approach is a much, much more reasonable interpretation of Lady Gaga's "art". But hey, it makes money. Reply #36. May 03 21, 6:13 PM |
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It's been awhile since I contributed to this thread. Time to remedy that. Previously, on April 30, 2020 (post #18 of this thread), I had posted Weird Al's "The Saga Begins", a parody of Don McLean's "American Pie". But that turns out not to be Weird Al's only Star Wars-themed parody. As a nerd in good standing, (see "White and Nerdy", post #10) Weird Al obviously can do more than one parody on Star Wars. To that end, consider The Kinks' "Lola": https://tinyurl.com/5dckbzzjNice song. Good melody. I don't know how that song triggered Star Wars in Weird Al's mind, but somehow it did, leading to the following: "Yoda": https://tinyurl.com/2vcbeze5Wikipedia tells an interesting story about "Yoda" that I had not known until I did a bit of research for this post. Apparently, the song was originally written and sung way back in 1980 when "The Empire Strikes Back" came out. Weird Al had performed it on "The Dr. Demento Show", but there was a hang-up getting approval from both Star Wars' creator George Lucas and The Kinks' "Lola" songwriter Ray Davies that resulted in "Yoda" not getting released on an album for five more years, when it finally appeared on Weird Al's third album "Dare To Be Stupid" (1985). The song had not been released as a single, not did Weird Al make a video for it; nevertheless, like many Weird Al songs he did not make videos for, his legions of fans were happy to fill in their efforts for him, so I just picked the one I liked for this post. Reply #37. Jun 12 21, 4:23 PM |
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