World of Weird Al Yankovic

One of those rare occasions when there's sunken treasure in the troll-infested waters of AMW-A: a link to the original lyrics to Rico Suave, with (sorta mediocre) translation.

It's actually a very good parody, better than Lasagna (except for Lasagna's GREAT accordion part), and Al did quite well with the Spanish pronunciation considering that he was pretty much working off whatever Spanish he had under his belt when he left Lynwood High.

The Italian accent in Lasagna embarrasses me a little, but not the Spanish accent in Taco Grande because Al's singing the part of a gringo in a Mexican restaurant.

"Taco Grande" is one of those sorta "middle ground" parodies. Al may be able to copy the sound to the note, but he won't thrown in any distinctive jokes or lyrics that people will be quoting for years to come. Al's voice and the fact that it's a song parody are the only elements reminding you that it's a "Weird Al song." "Rico Suave" was the kind of song that could have most definitely benefited from some wacky sound effects or even an accordion. At least that would have helped enhance the bizarre theme of singing about Mexican food. It's a basic album parody...really nothing more or less.

I'm rather indifferent about it, always have been, but some reason a friend of mine would really get into it...but I have a strong feeling he may not have known it was a parody.

That is a good parody! Did Rico Suave ever get really popular?

Yes, iisryan, it did. I even saw Gerardo on the one-hit wonders show. He was pretty embarassed about his song, especially since he has children who have seen the video. *I almost hate to admit I had a tiny crush on Gerardo*

Al does pretty good with the dancing in that bootleg I have. It's just too funny, especially with Jim and Ruben dancing, too.

*Bootleg, what bootleg?*

crazygurl14 @ May 12 2004, 03:09 PM wrote: . . . And torrin my spanish teacher always says that those translaters arent good at all.  They translate word for word and the sentence in all messed up.  . . .

Agreed. They are not perfect, but they are good enough for you the figure out the gist of what is being said.

I didn't know there was an Al video of him doing that song. Is it only on bootleg video, or is it on any commercial release?

Um, I did mention my footage was a bootleg. It's basically concert footage of him singing the song.

Patti

CatraDhtem @ May 13 2004, 05:10 AM wrote: "Rico Suave" was the kind of song that could have most definitely benefited from some wacky sound effects or even an accordion.

Yeah, but where's Al gonna find somebody who plays the accordion?

Really! I still would love to see him bring this song back live!

Doo rag! hehe!

AHHHH! I just yelled at my tv! I'm watching the Awesomely Bad Songs countdown. Rico Suave was #11. An uninformed person said "Weird Al's work is already done for him. He doesn't have to do a parody of this song." And something else about how it's already a parody. Btw, when she mentioned Al, they showed a clip from the Pentiums video :9~

Anyway, I yelled "But he did! He did do a parody!"

Argh! Why couldn't VH-1 had done just a little research to prove that Al did parody that song? Huh?

Patti

VH-1 didnt know that already? Well they're clueless.

Sarah