Comments on: It’s pretty sad that the parody of a song

By: Mads

Mads — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:25:27 +0000

It means that his parodies are more popular than the original songs… least that’s what I got from it

By: Jami

Jami — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:29:25 +0000

“You’re Pitiful” is WAY better then “You’re Beautiful” for instance.

By: nopants4u

nopants4u — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:32:56 +0000

Sorry , I meant Weird Al. Anyways, my two favorites from Weird Al have to be (1) “Everything you know is wrong” and (2) Albuquerque. The first one’s really weird and the second is 11 minutes long!!

By: nopants4u

nopants4u — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:22:47 +0000

It’s amazing that Weied Al’s lasted so long in the music business, all the way from “My Bologna” to “White n’ Nerdy”. How does he stay so popular?!

By: nopants4u

nopants4u — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:16:01 +0000

I think one of the only songs just as popular as its own Weird Al parody is “Beat it” by Michael Jackson. If i’m the only one that thinks so, I’ll shut up.

By: JrO

JrO — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:01:45 +0000

My guess is he’s referring to “Amish Paradise,” which coolio was thoroughly upset about because his song ‘reperr-zinted sumptin’

By: Natacat

Natacat — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:07:26 +0000

Yay! I love Wierd Al. POLKAS ON 45!!!!!!

By: o...wow

o...wow — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:33:29 +0000

i think its the ebay song but thats just me.

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:11:11 +0000

No.

You GUESSED what the OP was trying to say – you saw Weird Al in the photo, recognised him as a performer of parody songs that are sometimes as popular as, if not more popular than the original songs, and took the meaning from that. You understood all that from prior knowledge, and so the ambiguities in the poorly-worded caption are cleared up. If you actually parse the sentence properly and try to make sense of it, you will fail.

If you gave that sentence to someone that had never heard of Weird Al, they wouldn’t be able to make any sense of it either. On the other hand, OtherBill’s version (“It’s pretty sad that my parody of your song is actually more popular than your song”) isn’t context-dependent, and is therefore more appropriate.

The literal meaning of the original caption would be:

It’s pretty sad that the parody of a song that I (Weird Al) wrote (as in Weird Al wrote an ORIGINAL SONG and SOMEONE ELSE did a parody of it) is actually more popular than the song that you (the reader, not a famous songwriter) sang but some other guy wrote (presumable while you were at a karaoke bar).

THAT is how the wording is difficult to understand.

By: fvzappa

fvzappa — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:20:17 +0000

There are also songs that are not written by the singer (or any other bandmate), but not redone like “Gangsta’s Paradise”. For instance, “I Love Rock & Roll” was not written by Joan Jett, & “Mickey” was not written by Tony Basil.

Not to imply in these two instances that Al’s version is more popular, but I just want to point out that many artists have someone else write lyrics for them.

By: Jane 94

Jane 94 — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:04:45 +0000

I love “White and Nerdy”! And it in turn has its own parody, “Brown and Nerdy”, somehow that makes it even more fun.

Weird Al has been helping me keep my sense of humor for a lot of years now, he’s definitely a hero in my book.

By: Hallberg

Hallberg — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:08:16 +0000

another one rides the bus!

By: Breaker

Breaker — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:08:56 +0000

It’s also interesting that a lot of people criticize Weird Al for being “unoriginal” and “immature”, despite the fact that he is currently ranked as one of the world’s most accomplished polka players ever.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:07:39 +0000

And crap! Reading you guys discussing post modernism, as the subject goes right over my head, really makes me regret dropping out of college. What was I thinking? Doh!

By: Tracy

Tracy — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:04:37 +0000

I immediately thought of White N Nerdy, but that’s probably because it’s one of my favorite songs, even though it’s a parody. I run the music video through my head every time I hear for maximum LOLs.

I guess this cap could actually apply to a bunch of weird al songs. He’s been in the business for years. Even though I’m not a major fan, I do remember a lot of his parodies better than the originals.

JMO, from seeing him interviewed a couple times, Weird Al actually seems like a genuinely nice guy who hasn’t been skanked up by hollywood.

By: Audball

Audball — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:11:21 +0000

No, this “LOL” is talking about the songs by other artists that Weird Al has parodied. It’s just worded awkwardly.

By: abby

abby — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:12:00 +0000

he doesn’t do only parodies, either. he writes a lot of original songs. he IS brilliant.

By: just a guy

just a guy — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:08:33 +0000

thank you drb, that made sense. I kept seeing “a parody of [a song I wrote] ” and that was confusing me.

It should have been “my parody of a song” or something a more clean than what was captioned.

By: Forge

Forge — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:53:58 +0000

Yup, even “Dare to be Stupid” has um… “Dare to be Stupid” on it… ::boggle::

By: AngelMax

AngelMax — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:57:06 +0000

And I shall bring you both together and say this: Weird Al is always WIN no matter what. However, the caption does suck despite the truth it speaks, in that it is waaaaay too wordy, especially when one is making a blatantly obvious statement.

By: Hopless Romance

Hopless Romance — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:48:14 +0000

He’s probably reffering to either Amish Paradise or White ‘N Nerdy.

By: drb

drb — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:28:51 +0000

Oh way, I see, it’s not a parody of [a song that I wrote], it’s [a parody of a song] that I wrote. I was wondering who the OP was who’s a songwriter whose song was parodied by Weird Al.

By: drb

drb — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:25:29 +0000

Ah, pronoun trouble. Who is “I” in that?

By: Nessie

Nessie — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:00:14 +0000

Exactly! I thought it made perfect sense at least… Ok for all of you that can’t comprehend its meaning, it means:
‘Weird Al’s parodies of songs are more well-known than the original song that another person wrote for that singer’

Hope you guys use that little bit of info

By: musicalchef

musicalchef — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 07:24:20 +0000

How is the wording difficult to understand? I had no problem reading it.

Right, I guess it’s not too funny, but definitely true! Weird Al rules!

By: derr

derr — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 23:12:31 +0000

Seriously? Weird Al has written countless parodies, not just “Amish Paradise”. What’s being questioned is a song for which he’s the original artist and another artist has parodied.

By: lowly grunt

lowly grunt — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:28:02 +0000

I think I liked his previous look a lot more. He looks pretty sinister these days.

By: lowly grunt

lowly grunt — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:26:07 +0000

We were listening to my iTunes yesterday and Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” came up in the rotation. My son and my husband were both certain it was Weird Al’s “Eat It” until MJ started to sing. They both said, “HEY! That’s not Weird Al!”

By: chimmeychango

chimmeychango — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 11:03:07 +0000

smart enough to complain, not smart enough to fill in the blanks…. whats that say about you?

By: spectre514

spectre514 — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 08:11:21 +0000

And that he took songs alot of people cant stand (You’re Beautiful) and made them awesome (You’re Pitiful)

By: Cowpie

Cowpie — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 08:01:46 +0000

Confused…

But I do own allmost every single CD and song and whatnot play them on my MP3 once a week or when i’m peeved. Or after work when I can blast it loud!

Still wonder why I bought Headline News… only 2 songs! Lovely rare(?) music!

P.S. Canadian Idiot is my answering machine recording

By: ascatal

ascatal — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 05:09:48 +0000

if you have been parodied by Weird Al , then you have indeed made it

By: Chris J.

Chris J. — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 04:00:24 +0000

Simpler would’ve been funnier, but the point still gets across.

It’s like saying “Ponder on how a species of fowl completed the action of moving across a an identifiable route, way or path between places.” instead of “How did the chicken cross the road.”

Weird Al still rocks, nevertheless.

By: superchuckholly

superchuckholly — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 03:28:45 +0000

Well, I immediately thought of “White and Nerdy”– at least at my middle school at the time, EVERYONE sung that song, not many even liked “Ridin’ Dirty”.

By: pewpzz

pewpzz — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:45:29 +0000

Obscure reference and grammar fail.

By: RS

RS — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:14:44 +0000

So a parody of a Weird Al song is more popular than some other song? Is that what you’re trying to say?
I wasn’t aware that anyone made a popular parody of a Weird Al song.

By: marblelion

marblelion — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:55:00 +0000

…Well, it’s not really a LOL if it’s not funny and the words confuse people, is it?

By: Segaphile

Segaphile — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 23:59:36 +0000

Epic Win on your understanding of Postmodernism. This is going on my facebook.

I am an English major and my school is very fond of postmodernism… and I hate it so very much.

By: barkingmad59

barkingmad59 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 23:31:46 +0000

Song parodies may be easy to write. *Good* song parodies, on the other hand….

There’s a reason Al has been around as long as he has-even his lesser albums have some brilliant bits.

By: pbean

pbean — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:18:47 +0000

You nerds need to focus less on the words and more on the LOL. The LOL is good (although not great).

By: Audball

Audball — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:08:41 +0000

He’s parodied WAY more songs than just that. A playlist of them…I have it.

By: Penelopi

Penelopi — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:31:00 +0000

The song was Amish Paradise which parodied Gangster’s Paradise which sampled, for the most part, some Stevie Wonder song. Extraneous information…I have it.

By: Whut?

Whut? — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:12:02 +0000

Speech needs more brackets.

By: Nerd Judge

Nerd Judge — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:33:17 +0000

What’s the gist? I can’t find the gist. What does this mean?

By: ronstew

ronstew — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:01:47 +0000

Thanks, LS. Postmodernism. I failed to recognise it, but you are right.

PM is operating outside the accepted paradigm, declaring yourself brilliant at working within your new rules, gathering accolytes who think saying that you are brilliant will make them seem cool, and confusing and frustrating people who thought things were fine the old way.

Postmodernism. Fancy way of saying BS.

BTW – Weird Al is a favorite of mine.

By: LibraryShade

LibraryShade — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:48:53 +0000

And this, my friends, is postmodernism. Enjoy!

By: Broginator

Broginator — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:23:19 +0000

[I do wonder which songs in particular the author had in mind…]

Came here for this..

By: OtherBill

OtherBill — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:15:39 +0000

I’m still wondering what the “song you sang but some other guy wrote” is, and why it’s significant that Weird Al wrote his own song while some other guy wrote the other song.

Really, “It’s pretty sad that my parody of your song is actually more popular than your song” would’ve been much clearer (but still been ambiguous as to which song(s) he’s referring, sadly).

By: ...

... — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:14:02 +0000

A song parody is easy to write. Just listen to your local horrible morning talk shows.

Lucky for Weird Al he’s really good at it, otherwise he would just be another radio DJ.

By: Randy

Randy — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:08:50 +0000

I was amused, though it’s not laugh-out-loud funny, and is awkwardly worded. I do wonder which songs in particular the author had in mind…