World of Weird Al Yankovic

Actually, I disagree with you all. I think Bohemian Polka is actually a large slice of brick. With a hat on.

KnottyEmily @ Jul 29 2006, 05:47 PM wrote: I've always wondered, since it's a cover, why Al chose not to copy Freddy Mercury's vocal style. I'm pretty sure he could have done it, so I'm thinking it was because he was kind of making fun of the song, and that it was polka-style?

some of the best covers are done in a completely different style.

(See: Devo - Satisfaction)

although i love the song and the way he sings it, all this sounding like Freddie Mercury talk makes me wonder... what would it sound like???


anyways, i agree it is a cover, and a darn good one at that. why doesn't AL do some more?

There isn't anything that says he HAS to sound like Freddie Mercury. There are lots and lots and lots of covers out there, and I'll bet very few of the artists imitate the original "sound" of the original artist. Whoever re-records a song puts their own spin, or style, or "signature", as it were, on the new version.

cody @ Jul 30 2006, 02:20 PM wrote: some of the best covers are done in a completely different style.

(See: Devo - Satisfaction)

I agree that the best covers don't reflect the original style at all.

Also see Jimi Hendrix: All Along the Watchtower.


I think that if Al had tried to sound like Freddie, it would take away from the polka style. It also wouldn't have been as funny. This one called for Al's vocal stylings.

Also just to note the fact that the song is a key and a half lower than the original, so it does feel a little bit more Al's then a direct take-off. I actually plugged in the song to Audacity and raised the key a step and a half and it did feel a lot closer to the original, aside the squeakiness. 'Twas kinda cool.

Also, now that I'm on the subject of the song, I heard this really funny Jewish parody of the song, not Al, but still funny, even though it's STRICTLY directed towards a Jewish audience, so the Gentiles out there might miss more than half of the jokes.

I apologize for that non-Al digression. It's a good polka.

Edit: HOLY CRAP 27TH POST!

I'll go with polka, since the lyrics remain unchanged.

I'd say it's an 'homage/cover.'

Nobody could cover a Queen song and have it be taken seriously, becuase Freddie was such a great singer. I'd say this was Al's way of paying tribute without having to defend himself to critics and such about how he couldn't match up.

Plus the album needed a polka.

I thought it was pretty cool myself

All this time I thought that the albums booklet listed it as a parody, though it's basically just a cover. But then I looked at the booklet and saw that the writing credits said "Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen" as opposed to "parody of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen". I don't know why the title had to be different. Of course, I didn't realise that all of the lyrics were the same as the original until a year ago.