N°27 WEIRD AL YANKOVICH - SHE DRIVES LIKE CRAZY

When Peter Koelewijn mucks in self written songs Weird Al Yankovic is more know for his crazy twist to existing songs. He made parodies. Plenty examples since he’s world wide known for it and, apart from the song I chose, I’ll give you some more titles:

• Achy Breaky Song (Achy Breaky Heart (Billy Ray Cyrus))
• Amish Paradise (Gangsta’s Paradise (Coolio))
• Another One Rides The Bus (Another One Bites The Dust (Queen))
• Canadian Idiot (American Idiot (Green Day))
• Cavity Search (Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (U2))
• A Complicated song (Complicated (Avril Lavigne))
• Confessions Part III (Confessions Part II (Usher))
• eBay (I Want It That Way (Backstreet Boys))
• Fat (Bad (Michael Jackson))
• Girls Just Want To Have Lunch (Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper))
• Here's Johnny (Who's Johnny? (El DeBarge))
• I Think I'm A Clone Now (I Think We're Alone Now (Tiffany))
• Jurassic Park (MacArthur Park (Richard Harris))
• Lasagna (La Bamba (Los Lobos))
• Like A Surgeon (Like A Virgin (Madonna))
• Livin' In The Fridge (Livin' On The Edge (Aerosmith))
• Living With A Hernia (Living In America (James Brown))
• Perform this Way (Bron This Way (Lady Gaga))
• Pretty Fly For A Rabbi (Pretty Fly For A White Guy)(The Offspring))
• You're Pitiful (You're Beautiful (James Blunt))

Weird Al performed his first parody in the local Dr. Demento’s Radio Show where he played his parody ‘Another one rides the bus’ back in 1980. This would be the start of a weird and funny career. The producers of the Tomorrow Show picked up his performance and he got the chance to perform on television for the first time.

Al was known for his songs and looks (back short curly hair, big glasses and a mustache) but in 1998 he decided to change the way he looked. He got eye surgery so he could loose the glasses. His mustache disappeared and he grew his hair long. The new Weird(er) Al Yankovic was born and more records would follow. He sold until today over 12 million copies of his 17 albums.

Weird Al has been educated to play the accordeon from which he developed a taste for polka music. He wrote numerous different polka songs, most of them also covers of world known songs like Speed of Sound by Coldplay. He even wrote a special Polkamon for the 2000 Pokémon Movie.

Although he gets offered many parodies daily by fans he refuses to use either one of them. He writes solely his own lyrics and music and this for ‘legal and personal’ reasons. He also asks permission to the original performer(s) each time he creates his parodies. Most of the artist are flattered and only few keep refusing their cooperation. Amongst the refuses are Prince, Led Zeppelin and Paul McCartney.

Apart from his music career he also appears multiple times in different TV shows and movies. He appeared on cameo in 3 The Naked Gun Movies, Safety Patrol, Spy Hard, Halloween II (the remake) and he also did a voice over in The Simpsons. In 1997 he also had a one time show called The Weird Al Show.

Now let’s start the laughter.