I've always had a soft spot for Weird Al Yankovic. Ever since I watched the World of Warcraft version of his track Amnish Paradise, I've been a fan of his quirky parodies - aided by Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles' constant playing of them on his breakfast show. It's fair to say Weird Al is a Bit Of A Legend.
And how he's done a parody of Lady Gaga's anthemic Born This Way. Say hello to Perform This Way...
The only trouble is, after recording the song, Al sent it to Gaga's management for approval. By law, he doesn't even have to, he just does so out of sheer nicety. What a gentleman.
The answer he got back? A firm 'no'. They did not approve. So Al blogged about the whole business and uploaded the song on YouTube so that while it might not recieve an official release on his next album, at least it would be heard.
But the best bit about this whole story? Not long after the parody was uploaded on YouTube, Weird Al provided a new update to the whole dizzy chain of events, it went as follows:
"Apparently the fact that she didn’t approve it was news to Lady Gaga herself! Gaga’s manager has now admitted that he never forwarded my parody to Gaga – she had no idea at all. Even though we assumed that Gaga herself was the one making the decision (because, well, that’s what we were TOLD), he apparently made the decision completely on his own."
This really does make me rejoice, but also turns my stomach a little too. It's nice as it means Gaga has been a darling and there's a happy ending to the whole story, but it doesn't quite erase the highly unsavoury taste in my mouth resulting from her manager saying 'no' to the track withot consulting Gaga. Very shady!
Going back to the parody itself, with the YouTube video's Doctor Who-title-sequence-esque pulsating colours and Al's inspired and immensely funny lyrics stamped over the top, karoake machine style; the whole thing is as suitably 'weird' as his name suggests. In other words, brilliant.
The production is rather endearing too, all euro-techno synths and bleepy effects. As always with Al's parodies, the lyrics lie at the heart of the hilarity - My personal favourite from Perform This Way? 'I strap prime rib to my feet / cover myself with raw meat.'
Amazing.
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