Weird? He’s just wired that way
If you think R. Kelly‘s “Trapped in the Closet” is the most ridiculous song ever, you probably haven’t heard “Weird Al” Yankovic‘s parody of it, “Trapped in the Drive-Thru.”
“A lot of people thought it was almost a parody already and that it would be redundant for me to try to do anything with it,” says Yankovic, 47. “On the other hand, I listened to the song a few times and thought, ‘How can I not do this?’ “
While the original featured sex, violence and an endless series of mind-boggling plot twists, Yankovic’s parody – included on his latest album, “Straight Outta Lynwood” – concerns an ordinary couple trying to get a cheeseburger, a chicken sandwich and some fries.
There are 66 verses, including five on the quest for ketchup.
“I thought the only way to really make this funny is to make the subject so mundane and banal, but keep the drama,” he says. “So my song is basically an 11-minute parody where nothing really happens. I just try to keep the tedium going.”
Yankovic, who comes to the Spokane County Interstate Fair on Thursday, has been doing this kind of thing for almost 30 years.
Back in the new-wave era, he turned the Knack’s “My Sharona” into “My Bologna,” and Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” into “Another One Rides the Bus.”
Other targets have included Michael Jackson (“Beat It” and “Bad” became “Eat It” and “Fat”), Madonna (“Like a Virgin” was reinvented as “Like a Surgeon”) and Coolio (“Gangsta’s Paradise” begat “Amish Paradise”).
Artists have rarely expressed displeasure at being his targets, Yankovic says. But he did run into a problem when he turned James Blunt‘s “You’re Beautiful” into “You’re Pitiful.”
Blunt’s record company objected, so the song was taken off “Straight Outta Lynwood” and made available as a free download on Yankovic’s Web site, weirdal.com.
In addition to the song parodies, his albums include original songs and polka medleys of current hits. The “Straight Outta Lynwood” medley, for instance, blends portions of 15 songs, such as the Black Eyed Peas’ “Let’s Get It Started,” Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” and Kanye West‘s “Gold Digger.”
A native of Lynwood (an L.A. suburb), Yankovic entered show biz modestly, with submissions to Dr. Demento‘s syndicated radio show and coffeehouse open-mike nights.
“They’d get up on stage with their acoustic guitar and do these lovely ballads,” he says. “And I would get up with my accordion and play the theme from ‘2001.’ And people were kind of shocked that I would be disrupting their mellow Thursday night folk fest.”
While Yankovic occasionally has tried to broaden his niche, such as starring in the 1989 movie “UHF,” he’s mostly stuck to his shtick.
“I’ve never had any kind of a five- or 10-year plan or given a lot of thought to what I was going to be doing, you know, X-period of years in the future,” he says.
“If you asked me 25 years ago if I’d still be doing this kind of stuff, I would have thought you were crazy.”
The birthday bunch
Singer/guitarist Jose Feliciano is 62. Guitarist Joe Perry (Aerosmith) is 57. Actress Amy Irving is 54. Director Chris Columbus is 49. Actor Colin Firth is 47. Director Guy Ritchie is 39. Actor Ryan Phillippe is 33.