World of Weird Al Yankovic

I shouldn't rush you, but I almost can't contain myself ...

I didn't like it on my first few listens and rated it last. I've now listened to Mandatory Fun 30 times and this is the only song I don't like more and more with each listen. In fact, I probably like it less and less. It's incredibly poorly mixed (what is up with that?), and unbelievably poorly written. YouTube quality lyrics at its best, and other times straight up irrelevant to the topic. This may be up there for me on the list of Al's worst ever parodies.

I'm with Jon on this one. Was among my most anticipated songs from the album, and easily my least favorite.

TMBJon wrote:I didn't like it on my first few listens and rated it last. I've now listened to Mandatory Fun 30 times and this is the only song I don't like more and more with each listen. In fact, I probably like it less and less. It's incredibly poorly mixed (what is up with that?), and unbelievably poorly written. YouTube quality lyrics at its best, and other times straight up irrelevant to the topic. This may be up there for me on the list of Al's worst ever parodies.

Everything you said here is right on the money, in my opinion, and I agree with all of your points (except for the part about listening to it 30 times ... I couldn't get to the "third time").

I agree with you 100 percent, Jon. I just can't get into it, no matter how many times I try. It's really difficult to understand most of the lyrics in the choruses, and some of the lyrics I can understand make me scratch my head. As was stated in another thread, the "Welcome to my new place" line doesn't make any sense as it seems completely irrelevant to being inactive. Having said that, I do still get a chuckle or two out of the song (I like "I'm growing cobwebs on my knee" line), but it's definitely the weakest song on MF by a mile, and I agree that it's one of his worst all time.

I liked this song okay upon first listen, but I think that was partly due to the thrill of listening to any new Al song. Now that we have some distance from the initial release, I kind of agree with Jon that it seems like I'm enjoying this one less and less the more I hear it. The mix is way too muddied, some lines almost seem like he couldn't bother to think up anything better, and let's face it: there are at least 2 or 3 other parodies on YT that go the "Inactive" route, so this was already the least-original parody concept going in.

Clearly, Al was trying to play off the "Welcome to the New Age" line in the original when he says the "Welcome to my New Place" and "Really sad for my age" lines, but other than reusing some of the same words the lines end up not really making a lot of sense. The age/rib cage line kinda-sorta makes sense, but upon first listen it's a head-scratcher. (And not just because of the bad mix.) And then the "new place" line doesn't really have anything to do with the rest of the song. It's almost like a first draft he decided to just record as-is.

So there's ONE song on the album that isn't stellar. . .REFUND!!!

I for one enjoy this song. The weakest parody on the album, sure, but I still very much enjoy it. Despite the muffled chorus, Al and his band still do a phenomenal job of recreating ID's sound. It sounds significantly closer to Radioactive than any other parody/cover I've heard. And I really enjoyed Radioactive, so maybe that's why I enjoyed the parody.

The lyrics aren't terribly clever, but there are still a few funny lines ("Don't tag my toe, I'm still alive" comes to mind). I think it's fair to call the lyrics YouTube quality, but if so I'd say they're at the top of the YouTube spectrum (they're better than the lyrics of the 'Inactive' that existed before MF). But the overall sound quality surpasses YouTube by far.

I definitely agree that this is the weakest parody on the album, but it does have some funny lines. It's destined to eventually become a skipper for me, but for now it's still good enough to keep listening to. There's no way it's as bad as Toothless People, Syndicated Inc., Alimony, Cavity Search, or most of the movie songs (for me anyway.)

Skippy wrote:There's no way it's as bad as Toothless People, Syndicated Inc., Alimony, Cavity Search, or most of the movie songs (for me anyway.)

I guess I like it slightly better than all the songs you just mentioned, but I DO have a soft spot for the movie songs.

I love the movie songs. People roll their eyes how Yoda and The Saga Begins have to be played at every concert but I love them so much.