World of Weird Al Yankovic

symphy wrote:So do we know the upcoming videos? Are they Lame Claim to Fame, Mission Statement, and My Own Eyes?

Yes, unless you're asking about airing order - that I don't know.

Foil, obviously. Big budget on that lizard head.

I was very impressed with Tacky, Word Crimes, and Foil. All three just did the songs justice, and all three had some direct jabs at the videos of the originals. That's why I was a bit disappointed with Handy, because I was expecting some sort of jab at Iggy/Charli's video. Sports Song was entertaining enough but nothing I feel like I need to re-watch time and time again.

I picked Foil out of the first three, because that's the one that made me laugh the most. When it goes back to the food network look after the dim-lit second verse, it's hilarious.

drewdy9999 wrote:I picked Foil out of the first three, because that's the one that made me laugh the most. When it goes back to the food network look after the dim-lit second verse, it's hilarious.

Foil's absolutely my favorite. It's just so well done, the lighting, everything in this video is just spot on.

Oh, and that lizard head.

You know, I originally voted for Foil, but now that I've seen Handy, I might actually change my vote to it? I mean, Foil's video seriously improved my outlook on the song, and I cannot help breaking out laughing whenever the transition happens. It even made me okay with the lopping off of the final part of the song. But I already liked Foil before I saw the video; the video just raised it from mid-quality to high-quality in my mind. Handy's video, on the other hand, absolutely raised Handy from low-quality to high-quality in my mind. It finally made the song click for me; previously I didn't think Al had sufficiently improved upon the original, but now I absolutely think he did. The whole thing where it all looked intentionally cheap to resemble a local handyman's commercial was immediately obvious to me. Much like "Foil", the video plays on the idea of the narrator being a song parodist - the narrator isn't Weird Al, the narrator is a handyman who's decided to do a "Fancy" parody for his commercial. This is made much clearer in the video, where Al plays what I believe is the character most different, visually and in mannerisms, from his standard persona.

This incidentally leaves Lame Claim To Fame and Inactive as the only songs on the album I dislike.

I like Tacky the best so far. Though Word Crimes is also a great video.

PlayAWarGame wrote:the narrator is a handyman who's decided to do a "Fancy" parody for his commercial.

Oh, I really like this interpretation of the song!

PlayAWarGame wrote:Much like "Foil", the video plays on the idea of the narrator being a song parodist - the narrator isn't Weird Al, the narrator is a handyman who's decided to do a "Fancy" parody for his commercial. This is made much clearer in the video, where Al plays what I believe is the character most different, visually and in mannerisms, from his standard persona.

Al's subtle acting in "Foil" (especially the first 20-30 seconds or so) really elevates it for me. I like it when he's understated sometimes. He's "Weird" Al, not "Wacky" Al, after all.

But your point about the narrator not (often) being Weird Al himself is an important one. It really helps Word Crimes if you think of it as Weird Al portraying a caricature of an online grammar Nazi, rather than he, himself, being a grammar Nazi. Otherwise, the song seems, as some have pointed out online, needlessly mean. It's not Al himself screaming at people with poor grammar, it's the over-the-top character. (Though, naturally, I'm sure there's a bit of Al in there too. )

It's an interesting philosophical question I often think about when listening to Weird Al.
Are we supposed to think of each song as Al himself singing it, the original artist singing it, a new character? If it's a new character, are we supposed to pretend that this is an original song, or does the character know he's singing a parody? In the case of style parodies, are we supposed to think of it as if we're hearing a new song by that band?

Alright. My stand on the videos so far
1. Foil
2. Handy
3. Tacky
4. Lame Claim to Fame
5. First World Problems
6. Sports Song
7. Word Crimes
8. Mission Statement