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so i uh have been thinking about doing this for a long time, and since byob is the best place on the internet i figured i might as well do it here. sigh. okay dude you got this. this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1765UzjAQxI is not, as al claims, a weirdo jam improved tune. it is a carefully disguised autobiography of one "weird" al yankovic! okay listen wait hear me out okay? weird al is the greatest satirist of all time. weird al does not parody songs, he is a jester of the highest order. a genius who has spent his career subtly subverting modern culture, and somehow becoming a part of the very culture he satirizes to a degree that led him to changing his trademarked persona, like david bowie casting off ziggy, or the thin white duke, like a scorpion growing every stronger, casting ashing past empty shells that once served, but now constrict. this thread is gonna be multiple posts, but this opening post is going to discus a theory i have personally held for a few years at this point. it's old enough that recently my little brother, upon hearing i was going to see the no strings attached tour, told me about a theory he'd read somewhere, maybe reddit, about how weird als albequrque was a coded life story, and i was like dude that is my theory, and i told you about it 3 years ago. so anyways, here is the deal. i'm gonna line by line or chunk by chunk break down this song, and how there are direct correlations to als life up to that point, and then speculation about his life moving forward. sigh. okay um... okay.  Way back when I was just a little bitty boy Living in a box under the stairs in the corner of the basement of the house Half a block down the street from Jerry's Bait Shop (You know the place) Well, anyway, back then life was going swell and everything was just peachy! here we have al describing his early life, trapped, as it were, in the box his family made for him. Except, of course, for the undeniable fact that every single morning My mother would make me a big ol' bowl of sauerkraut for breakfast Aw, big bowl of sauerkraut! Every single mornin'! It was driving me crazy I said to my mom I said, "Hey, mom, what's up with all the sauerkraut?" And my dear, sweet mother She just looked at me like a cow looks at an oncoming train And she leaned right down next to me And she said, "It's good for you!" And then she tied me to the wall and stuck a funnel in my mouth And force fed me nothing but sauerkraut until I was twenty six and a half years old what is sauerkraut? it is something that is good for you, honestly, but being forced, as a child, to consume it, is rough. it is odd, very traditional and un american, and will make you sick if you eat too much. i wonder what being forced to practice the accordion felt like for a young al? That's when I swore that someday Someday I would get outta that basement and travel to a magical, far away place Where the sun is always shining and the air smells like warm root beer And the towels are oh so fluffy Where the shriners and the lepers play their ukuleles all day long And anyone on the street will gladly shave your back for a nickel the young al dreams of a world away from his box, a place of magic and fun and absurdity and gallows humour. Wacka wacka doodoo yeah! Well, let me tell you, people, it wasn't long at all before my dream came true Because the very next day, a local radio station had this contest To see who could correctly guess the number of molecules in Leonard Nimoy's butt I was off by three, but I still won the grand prize That's right, a first class one-way ticket to al mailed a tape of him banging on buckets in a university bathroom to dr demento, who loved it, and played it, and thusly kickstarted als career [Chorus] To Albuquerque! Albuquerque! the big time. but also, the destruction of the childhood box. from now on, al would be quirky [Verse 2] Oh yeah You know, I'd never been on a real airplane before And I gotta tell ya, it was really great Except that I had to sit between two large Albanian women with excruciatingly severe body odor And the little kid in back of me kept throwin' up the whole time The flight attendants ran out of Dr. Pepper and salted peanuts And the in-flight movie was Bio-Dome with Pauly Shore And, oh yeah, three of the airplane engines burned out And we went into a tailspin and crashed into a hillside And the plane exploded in a giant fireball and everybody died Except for me You know why? als experiance in the world of showbiz, the "plane," were rough. the big time was not all it was cracked up to be 'Cause I had my tray table up And my seat back in the full upright position Had my tray table up And my seat back in the full upright position Had my tray table up And my seat back in the full upright position Ah ha ha ha Ah ha ha Ah al is famously clean living. he survived hollywood when kurt cobain because he read the rules and followed them. he didn't get addicted to drugs. he didn't bang all the groupies. he kept his back straight and walked the line, and survived the danger of the big time because of it. So I crawled from the twisted, burnin' wreckage I crawled on my hands and knees for three full days Draggin' along my big leather suitcase and my garment bag And my tenor saxophone and my twelve-pound bowling ball And my lucky, lucky autographed glow-in-the-dark snorkel But finally I arrived at the world famous Albuquerque Holiday Inn Where the towels are oh so fluffy And you can eat your soup right out of the ashtrays if you wanna It's okay, they're clean! als parents both died, the same night, in bed, as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning. despite his following of the rules, he still experienced tragedy beyond tragedy. Well, I checked into my room and I turned down the A/C And I turned on the SpectraVision And I'm just about to eat that little chocolate mint on my pillow That I love so very, very much when suddenly, there's a knock on the door Well now, who could that be? I say, "Who is it?" No answer "Who is it?" There's no answer "Who is it?" They're not sayin' anything So, finally I go over and I open the door and just as I suspected It's some big fat hermaphrodite with a Flock of Seagulls haircut and only one nostril Oh man, I hate it when I'm right So anyway, he bursts into my room and he grabs my lucky snorkel And I'm like, "Hey, you can't have that! That snorkel's been just like a snorkel to me!" And he's like, "Tough." And I'm like, "Give it!" And he's like, "Make me." And I'm like, "'kay!" So I grabbed his leg and he grabbed my esophagus And I bit off his ear and he chewed off my eyebrows And I took out his appendix and he gave me a colonic irrigation Yes, indeed, you better believe it And somehow in the middle of it all, the phone got knocked off the hook And twenty seconds later, I heard a familiar voice And you know what it said? I'll tell you what it said this scene is representative of als struggle with his label. he had made it to the promised land, but was finding that something he'd feared, the demands of a contract signed as a young man, would return to haunt him. It said "If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again; "If you need help, hang up and then dial your operator "If you'd like to make a call, please hang up and try again; "If you need help, hang up and then dial your operator." [Chorus] In Albuquerque Albuquerque [Verse 3] Well, to cut a long story short, he got away with my snorkel But I made a solemn vow right then and there that I would not rest I would not sleep for an instant until the one-nostrilled man was brought to justice But first, I decided to buy some donuts he has reached out to the law, and found that the law will serve him not, and seeks to attend to other needs, not engage in a bitter vendetta So I got in my car and I drove over to the donut shop And I walked on up to the guy behind the counter And he says, "Yeah, what do ya want?" I said, "You got any glazed donuts?" He said, "No, we're outta glazed donuts." I said, "You got any jelly donuts?" He said, "No, we're outta jelly donuts." I said, "You got any Bavarian cream-filled donuts?" He said, "No, we're outta Bavarian cream-filled donuts." I said, "You got any cinnamon rolls?" He said, "No, we're outta cinnamon rolls." I said, "You got any apple fritters?" He said, "No, we're outta apple fritters." I said, "You got any bear claws?" He said, "Wait a minute, I'll go check "No, we're outta bear claws." I said, "Well, in that case - in that case, what do you have?" He says, "All I got right now is this box of one dozen starving, crazed weasels" I said, "Okay, I'll take that." So he hands me the box and I open up the lid and the weasels jump out And they immediately latch onto my face and start bitin' me all over Oh man, they were just going nuts They were tearin' me apart You know, I think it was just about that time that a little ditty started goin' through my head I believe it went a little something like this... Doh! Get 'em off me! Get 'em off me! No, get 'em off, get 'em off! Oh, oh God, oh God! Oh, get 'em off me! Oh, oh God! al seeks a wife I ran out into the street with these flesh-eating weasels all over my face Wavin' my arms all around and just runnin', runnin', runnin' Like a constipated wiener dog And as luck would have it, that's exactly when I ran into the girl of my dreams Her name was Zelda She was a calligraphy enthusiast with a slight overbite and hair the color of strained peaches I'll never forget the first thing she said to me She said, "Hey, you've got weasels on your face." she recognized him for what he really was, a man in pain. That's when I knew it was true love We were inseparable after that Aw, we ate together, we bathed together We even shared the same piece of mint-flavored dental floss The world was our burrito So we got married and we bought us a house And had two beautiful children - Nathaniel and Superfly Oh, we were so very very very happy, aw yeah the end of the autobiographical portion But then one fateful night, Zelda said to me She said, "Sweetie pumpkin? Do you wanna join the Columbia Record Club?" I said, "Whoa, hold on now, baby, I'm just not ready for that kind of a commitment!" So we broke up and I never saw her again But that's just the way things go [Chorus] In Albuquerque Albuquerque al describes his fears and hopes for the future of his career and life [Verse 4] Anyway, things really started lookin' up for me Because about a week later, I finally achieved my lifelong dream That's right, I got me a part-time job at The Sizzler! I even made employee of the month after I put out that grease fire with my face Aw yeah, everybody was pretty jealous of me after that I was gettin' a lot of attitude OK, like one time, I was out in the parking lot Tryin' to remove my excess earwax with a golf pencil When I see this guy Marty tryin' to carry a big ol' sofa up the stairs all by himself So I, I say to him, I say, "Hey, you want me to help you with that?" And Marty, he just rolls his eyes and goes "No, I want you to cut off my arms and legs with a chainsaw." So I did And then he gets all indignant on me He's like, "Hey man, I was just being sarcastic!" Well, that's just great How was I supposed to know that? I'm not a mind reader for cryin' out loud Besides, now he's got a really cute nickname: "Torso-Boy"! So what's he complaining about? he gives his audience what he thinks they want, and they complain Say, that reminds me of another amusing anecdote This guy comes up to me on the street and says he hasn't had a bite in three days Well, I knew what he meant But just to be funny, I took a big bite out of his jugular vein And he's yellin' and screamin' and bleeding all over And I'm like, "Hey, come on, don'tcha get it?" But he just keeps rolling around on the sidewalk, bleeding, and screaming You know, just completely missing the irony of the whole situation Man, some people just can't take a joke, you know? some people can't take a joke Anyway, um, um, where was I? Kinda lost my train of thought Uh, well, uh, okay Anyway I, I know it's kinda been a roundabout way of saying it But I guess the whole point I'm tryin' to make here is: I Hate Sauerkraut!!! al doesn't hate the accordion, but he does hate what the accordion represents That's all I'm really tryin' to say And, by the way, if one day you happen to wake up And find yourself in an existential quandary Full of loathing and self-doubt And wracked with the pain and isolation of your pitiful meaningless existence At least you can take a small bit of comfort in knowing that Somewhere out there in this crazy mixed-up old universe of ours There's still a little place called [Outro] Albuquerque Albuquerque Albuquerque, Albuquerque Albuquerque, Albuquerque Albuquerque, Albuquerque Albuquerque, Albuquerque if you doubt yourself, believe in, and work towards, your dreams I said, "A" (A) "L" (L) "B" (B) "U" (U) "...Querque!" (Querque!) he spells it out so hard it makes me laugh, even now. he says, and i quote "al b u quirky" which is al is just like you, be quirky! Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque Albuquerque lol okay i did it. next up some specific song parody breakdowns and some symbolic breakdowns of his original songs thank you much im so sorry tldr; weird al is weird Heather Papps fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Nov 16, 2019 |
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Nov 16, 2019 01:42
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 02:54 |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-CG5w4YwOI is an incredibly caustic deconstruction of the forces that allow one to "party in the usa" similar to a neil young party "anthem"
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Nov 16, 2019 03:40
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urglg3WimHA foil is a multi level deconstruction. lordes "royals" is a song about her disinterest in the big time world that trapped al within the confines of his contract for years, and als response, his, if you will "ftfy," was to write a song, that for the first minute and a half, is about food. in als early work, the food parody became something of an ascended meme, with this; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4wFviI79VA as the ultimate nail in the coffin in the lol food jokes al only does food songs meme. anyways, the final section of the song is al explaining his deep awareness of the forces that manipulate the big time, and then, the end of the video is the reveal of his reptilian nature, as a member of the one percent, and an artist with both commercial and critical acclaim, a lovely wife, a child, and a fun life. al has all he desires, and in this, he has become something less than human, and yet, in his humanity, he recognizes his status, and, as befits the jester, mocks himself.
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Nov 16, 2019 03:45
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0cCRRFi1aA this is a pretty obvious autobiographical satire, about how al went to school for like, architecture, but now he plays the accordion and sings about star wars for a living.
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Nov 16, 2019 03:49
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glFVXpz_abQ this is a sick burn about how rem was the hugest band in the world for a bit and they used it to promote some pretty great messages to the world
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Nov 16, 2019 03:51
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvfD5rnkTws clearly al has read uncle ted, or at least the wiki article on ISAIF
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Nov 16, 2019 03:56
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this is incredible, thank you for sharing. |
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Nov 16, 2019 05:35
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXiwYUCe_bY okay so, here's the deal iggy is a white australian rapper, so she is a colonist to a nation that didn't even invent rap. hip hop emerged from the urban african american centres, and was co opted, like punk or metal, by commercial interests. white folk, like, blondie, were like dang this is cool lemme try. so iggy is a white lady rapper. that's fine. however, in fancy, her breakout hit, (i liked my world and the drugs stuff), she basically is bragging about her appearance, not her abilities. the parody is a man singing about how truly handy he is, that he has the skills to get the job done. this, on it's surface, is both funny and clever. however, the music video adds an additional layer of irony, as we see the pride of the handyman in his work is, in fact, a delusion jeeeeeeez al leave the girl alone don't kill her
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Nov 16, 2019 22:39
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4539G-5yUgg lol funny rite? i mean, yeah, but this is also the most bitter breakup song ever
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Nov 16, 2019 22:40
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZvgT4pVC_w at a certain point weird al moved from satire of individual songs, to satire of an artists whole style. pastiche, i suppose? i unno. anyways, okay so this is not super hard to figure out. it's makin' fun of cat steven and guys who are so, so bad at being a human in real life. e:oh sorry i forgot the whole point is all these songs dudes write about love are actually terrifying. every step you take, etc.
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Nov 16, 2019 22:45
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwvlbJ0h35A okay so first off, this is a style satire of the pixies. weird al doesn't just mock those he doesn't respect, he also mocks those he does respect, because the jester mocks both king and slave. but okay so there are elements here that indicate, very clearly, that this is a respectful ribbing. first, this list of complaints is clearly a list of things from real life, gently mocking the sadfolk aesthetic of a lot of music. secondly, he had almanda palmer do the kim parts. he is doing his best to show that imitation is really the sincerest form of flattery. thirdly, liam lynch directed the video. 4rth, al is making fun of himself, and not the songs or style of the pixies. he's just doing his pixies song.
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Nov 16, 2019 22:51
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOfZLb33uCg gangsters paradise was a celebration and lament of the life in the shadow of the system. it celebrates those who life despite the law, not who thrive thru the laws bigotry. to al, who, as we have discussed in previous posts, is skeptical of technology and the big time, decided to twist a song that celebrates those rebels on concrete sidewalks with the rebels who refuse to fight, the rebels who refuse to use technology, those rebels, who, above all else, have rejected vanity. to al the true outlaw is not he who breaks the law, but they who live truly "outside" the law, ie; amish/mennonite communities. the song is called amish paradise, yet at one point he uses the term menonite. these are differing sects, who share some overarching characteristics. as a youth, this bothered me. why did al make this mistake? it was not a mistake. he was equating those who live in utter rejection of the world system together, menonites, amish, hutterites, etc.
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Nov 16, 2019 22:56
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Al is good |
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Feb 28, 2020 15:23
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alnilam posted:Al is |
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Feb 28, 2020 16:34
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i realized the name was bad AFTER who did this kindness?
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Feb 28, 2020 16:55
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My favorite Weird Al song ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWhpk-8QLFQ https://i.imgur.com/QKTkerO.mp4 |
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Feb 28, 2020 17:20
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Pot Smoke Phoenix posted:My favorite Weird Al song ever behind the music struggled to find drama for the al episode, and decided it was sad that al was single. then he married that mega babe. he may not be taylor swift but if i was one of his exes i'd be... uh... bummed? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWD5gdpt4Dw "When the camera goes around the room, a condom can be seen on a golf club. This was done by a set designer as a joke, and he was later fired for it." oh jeez
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Feb 28, 2020 17:36
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss_BmTGv43M this one is not super deep, honestly, but the commentary that lady gaga is performative is interesting. who is weirder, al, or gaga? one is truly authentically himself, one is a carefully constructed persona. which one tho? it is al. al is the real one. "Don't be offended when you see My latest pop monstrosity I'm strange, weird, shocking, odd, bizarre I'm Frankenstein, I'm Avatar There's nothing too embarrassing I'll honestly do anything But wear white after Labor Day 'Cause baby, I perform this way" frankenstein is in refrance to gaga's piecemeal aesthetic, and avatar to her existance as a glossy piece of entertainment content disguised as "deep art" however, the only "transgressive" acts a gaga would engage in are those that are fashionable, because for little monsters the veneer of authenticity is enough. also "I strap prime rib to my feet, cover myself with raw meat I'll bet you've never seen a skirt steak worn this way" this skirt steak joke is brilliant
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Feb 29, 2020 15:01
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Little piece of wisdom i saw over in cspamsmarxist posted:i feel like you can tell everything you need to know about artists based on their reaction to Weird Al wanting to parody their work |
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Feb 29, 2020 15:46
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this is a Good Thread and I am enjoying your commentary. though I like weird al I haven't specifically followed his career and it's a lot of fun to see some of this stuff for the first time.
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Feb 29, 2020 19:43
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 02:54 |
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Manifisto posted:this is a Good Thread and I am enjoying your commentary. though I like weird al I haven't specifically followed his career and it's a lot of fun to see some of this stuff for the first time. i've been a fan of his as long as i can remember. the weird al show was formative to me, and holds up amazingly well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yrD-KW-O-s it does lessons, but funny? uhf is also a favorite of mine. HOWEVER what changed things for me was one story about him i read. from als wiki page: On April 9, 2004, Yankovic's parents were found dead in their Fallbrook, California home, the victims of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from their fireplace.[13][57] Several hours after his wife notified him of his parents' death, Yankovic went on with his concert in Appleton, Wisconsin,[62][63] saying that "since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well"[64] and that it would "at least ... give me a break from sobbing all the time."[65] Their deaths occurred following the release of Poodle Hat, which was Yankovic's lowest-selling album in 20 years, but he considered continuing the show and tour therapeutic, saying "if I didn't have anything to distract me, I probably would have spiraled into an even deeper depression. For a couple of hours each night, I could go onstage and put on a big fake smile and pretend like everything was just OK."[61] In a 2014 interview, Yankovic called his parents' death "the worst thing that ever happened to me." He added, "I knew intellectually, that at some point, probably, I'd have to, you know, live through the death of my parents, but I never thought it would be at the same time, and so abruptly."[66] it was this that made me reconsider the dude. he is like a lot of us: making fun jokes as a technique for managing pain. this was when i started digging and realized al is way smarter than most folk give him credit for.
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Mar 1, 2020 12:17
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