Singer/Author Parody Permission

[mrmeadows]

Hi! This is my first question to Ask Bermuda, and only my second post! I've been an Al fan for about 15 years, though. Glad to be finally make it here!

Anyway, here's a sort of question that isn't earth-shattering but has always kinda bugged me: how come on all of Al's albums he gives "Special Thanks" to the Artists who sing the original songs he parodies EXCEPT on the Even Worse album? On EW, only the songwriters are thanked (Michael Jackson is the only performer thanked). How come no props to Tiffany, Los Lobos, Billy Idol, George Harrison and/or Tommy James (for the original versions of "Mony Mony" AND "I Think We're Alone Now")?

Which actually brings me to a second question: I read in an old People Magazine article a LOOOONG time ago (pre-EVEN WORSE) that George Harrison was on the short list of artists who had actually REFUSED to give Al permission to parody their work (I believe the parody in question was "Pac-Man", spoofing Harrison's "Tax Man"). Did "The Quiet Beatle" have to give the OK for Al to parody "(Got My Mind) Set on You"? And if so, why isn't he in the "Special Thanks" section?

Whew! That's a lot of question(s). Sorry about that. Hope I didn't step over any boundaries.

Thanks!
Meadows

[Johnnytimewarp]

"Got My Mind Set On You" was originally recorded in 1962 by R&B singer James Ray. Somebody else wrote it, but not George...

[bermuda]

In the cases of Tiffany, Los Lobos, Idol & Harrison, none of them wrote the songs that Al parodied, however Tommy James and Rudy Clark are duly credited and thanked in the album's liner notes.

[mrmeadows]

In the cases of Tiffany, Los Lobos, Idol & Harrison, none of them wrote the songs that Al parodied, however Tommy James and Rudy Clark are duly credited and thanked in the album's liner notes.

Hey, thanks for the quick response, Bermuda! Although I feel a bit . . .I guess Tommy James IS in the Thanks section. For some reason I thought he wasn't. Sorry.

So to follow up on the Harrison thing, do you know what he thought of Al? Is it true he refused to give permission for the "Pac Man" parody? I know McCartney is a big fan, and I'd like to think George appreciated Al's work, too!

Meadows

[Johnnytimewarp]

As a sidenote...On Even Worse parodied two Tommy James and the Shondells tunes (at the time covered by Tiffany and Billy Idol). The only other instance of Al parodying an artist twice on the same album was Bad Hair Day (he parodied Soul Asylum's "Misery" and style parodied "Black Gold)...

[bermuda]

At the time of Pacman - not long after Lennon's death - none of the Beatles were very happy about anything. I don't know if George ever had an opinion about it later on, and since the Pacman craze evolved into other things, trying to release it a few years later would have rendered it rather untimely.