Hidden Al Songs For The Future

Leonard Cohen · Post by **Leonard Cohen** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 10:30 pm

You know how some artists like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Elton John have extra songs that they write, record, produce, but they don't release them to the public because they just don't have room for them on an album or because they don't like the songs, or they think the songs are so awesome that they have to store them away for future comeback purposes in 20 years? That was the case with The Rolling Stone's 1981 Start Me Up.

Does Weird Al Yankovic do that sort of thing? Does he have 10 or 20-year-old songs that are just stored away somewhere, waiting to be unleashed to the public?

The reason I'm asking is because I just saw the music video for White and Nerdy debut at #5 on VH1's Top 20 this week. The VJ host then said that Prince is one of the artists who won't allow Weird Al to parody any of his songs and that Al still calls him up on the phone to check.

The VJ then said something about how maybe one day we'll finally get to hear "Little Dead Chevette."

Did Al really write a parody of Prince's Little Red Corvette? And what the hell is a Chevette? A female horse in french?

You can catch exactly what the VJ said all week long. This week's Top 20 will play in reruns all week. The best time is in the mornings.

Post by **anthontherun** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:32 pm

A Chevette is a car (at least I think it is)...

Anyway, Al does have a bunch of unreleased songs from the 70s, but outside of some Dr. Demento fan club compilations, he has no intention of releasing them.

Nowadays, he only records (and writes) enough songs to fill an album.

Post by **Akrovak** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:35 pm

CatraDhtem · Post by **CatraDhtem** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:50 pm

Leonard Cohen @ Oct 3 2006, 04:30 PM wrote: Does Weird Al Yankovic do that sort of thing? Does he have 10 or 20-year-old songs that are just stored away somewhere, waiting to be unleashed to the public?

In interviews Al has said that he almost always writes and records just enough for a full album, so there's no big cache of unused songs somewhere a la Springsteen (outside of, as Anth pointed out, the early pre-album stuff, that is). The rationale Al has used is that he doesn't want to waste not only money but also studio time and his own personal and creative time writing and recording something that might eventually go unreleased.

This is especially true in the case of the parodies, since as far as Al is concerned everything hinges on whether or not he can get permission. He doesn't even really start writing the full parody until he gets the okay, since again he doesn't want to waste his time or effort on a song that he ultimately can't use.

As far as unapproved parody ideas go, if they don't find their way into the concert medleys then probably nothing exists outside of a lyrical hook or two jotted down somewhere.

Post by **Bruce the Duck** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 12:21 am

I think the only exception to this was "Waffle King," which he recorded orginally for "Off the Deep End," but then didn't put on the album because he thought it better to include "I Was Only Kidding," fearing the "NOT" joke would be outdated if he waited to release IWOK.

But even then, he released "Waffle King" as the B-Side of the SLN single.

Post by **KnottyEmily** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 10:53 am

from this interview I just got in a Google Alert:

For instance, devotees will be disappointed to learn there`s no Yankovic vault to speak of. "I`m not one of these writers who writes 100 songs for an album, records 40 and picks the best 12,' he said. 'I hate wasted effort. If I can help it, I write 12 songs, record 12 songs and put them all out."

Al is watching [or reading]....

SmileyGirl87 · Post by **SmileyGirl87** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 4:51 pm

He's actually said this in a couple of recent interviews lately...

~*Cat*~

(Sometimes interviewers really DO have good questions...

weird user · Post by **weird user** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 6:07 am

Many of Als songs that were featured on The Dr. Demento Show haven't been released. Some are parodies that he didn't get permission to include on his albums, but others he was embarrassed by.

minnick27 · Post by **minnick27** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:12 pm

But most (all?) of those songs are from before Al had a record deal. I think what Leonard is asking are there say 2 songs from SOL that Al recorded that maybe we will get after Al retires or many years down the line

Post by **Kevbo1987** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:15 pm

He recorded 2 songs for SOL that he didn't use?
EDIT: Never mind. I misread minnick's post.