Was just minding my own business watching sports on the TV, Tweeting as I occasionally do. When along comes a story about Weird Al Yankovic
and a new parody of Lady GaGa
's Born This Way. It seemed Al did a parody of her song titled, "Perform This Way", but GaGa was NOT happy with it as were her manager. So Weird Al puts it on his blog and YouTube for ALL to see.Saying "The following song was supposed to be on my upcoming album....Unfortunately it did NOT receive Lady Gaga's approval. Had this been released, all proceeds from the sale of the song and video would have gone to The Human Rights Campaign"
Even though he says he has the legal authority to put a song parody on a record, he has a long-standing policy of not doing so without consent from the artist he's spoofing.
Now we all know Weird Al's exploits. He has done some amazing parodies over his career. Some of Yankovic early recorded ones, "Another One Rides the Bus" a parody of Queen's hit "Another one bites the dust
" in 1981 and "I Love Rocky Road
", (a parody of "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" as recorded by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
) 1982.
He said though, "What made my career was the parodies I did of some of Michael Jacksons songs "eat it"(Beat It) and "Fat"(Bad). "The first time around I pursued Michael Jackson
about a song parody, it was a shot in the dark. We're talking about the most popular and famous person in the known universe and here I was, this goofy comedy songwriter. He not only returned our phone calls, but he approved it," Yankovic writes.He described his experiences of meeting Jackson as "otherworldly. He was and continues to be so iconic, it's hard to even conceive of him as a human being. He always was bigger than life," Yankovic says.
But Michael did say NO to a parody of "Black and White", leaving Al to turn to Smells Like Nirvana - a parody of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in 1992.Before that he did a Madonna
song "Like a Surgeon" ,(Like a Virgin) in 1985.In 1999 he tackled Don McLean's "American Pie with ""The Saga Begins"
So now he parodies Lady GaGa. And as I write this, she has had a change of heart, FAN AND MEDIA PRESSURE, and given Weird Al her blessings. She should be honored to join the exclusive list that can say, I GOT PARODIED BY WEIRD AL YANKOVIC!
