World of Weird Al Yankovic

Skippy wrote:

Marc wrote:No, although it's supposed to be Albuquerque 2.0, it just doesn't work for me.

I would say it's more the anti-Albuquerque than Albuquerque 2.0. Besides, wasn't Albuquerque just Twine Ball 1.4?

Maybe because it's anti-Albuquerque that it didn't work for me. And yes, I do like BBOTIM very much too. So that must be it then.

I don't think Jackson Park Express relates to Albuquerque in any way. Albuquerque is a deliberately long song with repetitive music. Al has said in interviews that he never expected it to gain a cult following; he just thought it would be funny to do a ridiculously long rambling song.
On the other hand, Jackson Park Express is a self-contained short story and derives humor from the primary framing device of the two characters' body language vs. what the narrator imagines the subtext to be.

ABQ is only two minutes longer, but when that song starts up I think about how long it is immediately. Jackson Park Express, I don't even think of as a "long song" so much as a beautiful one.

So in other words, the anti-Albuquerque. Opposite in nearly every way.

Wouldn't the opposite of Albuquerque (the longest song) be Let Me Be Your Hog (the shortest)?

Mystik Tomato wrote:Wouldn't the opposite of Albuquerque (the longest song) be Let Me Be Your Hog (the shortest)?

If you only mean opposite in length, then yes.

But in Albuquerque, a LOT happens. There is action, the character travels and engages others frequently. In JPX, virtually nothing happens. Two characters ride the bus for what seems to be a short amount of time. He stares at her, but they engage only briefly, when he signals to her that she something on her mouth and she licks it off. Albuquerque is repetitive musically, while JPX has very little repetition (many here see this as a bad thing.) Albuquerque is loud and relatively fast-paced, with a vocal style that is pretty much spoken word, save for a few sections. JPX is soft, slower-moving and sung melodically.

So if JPX is opposite to Albuquerque, does that put Trapped in the Drive-Thru perpendicular to the two? And where does that leave Genius in France?

Mystik Tomato wrote:So if JPX is opposite to Albuquerque, does that put Trapped in the Drive-Thru perpendicular to the two?

Possibly. It has minimal action like JPX, but also pointless extended conversations like Albuquerque. Vocally, it's kind of in between spoken and sung.

And where does that leave Genius in France?

In France.

I've been wondering is Jackson Park Express more based upon the work of Cat Stevens or the now, Yusuf Islam? If from which are there any particular songs that feel apparently styled from? I've listened to the biggest hits of course but I've been wondering what songs influenced this piece in particular.

Al said Cat Stevens, but thanked Yusuf Islam. To me that means he knows the difference and its a Cat Stevens style parody.

AccordionChick wrote:I've been wondering is Jackson Park Express more based upon the work of Cat Stevens or the now, Yusuf Islam?

Like minnick27 said, Al seems to know the difference and he called it a Cat Stevens style parody, so I've been looking there. That said, there isn't a whole lot of difference, sound-wise.

I've listened to the biggest hits of course but I've been wondering what songs influenced this piece in particular.

So far, I've found that the beginning of "But I Might Die Tonight" sounds like the beginning of JPX. There isn't a whole lot of musical variety in Stevens' songs, so it kind of just sounds like everything. My quest right now is to find a song with the "Uh! Mama!" lyric or something similar. That seems like such an odd choice in JPX that I'm convinced it's based on something in particular from Stevens.