People who've said "no" to Al

[Yankomaniac]

Yeah, Bad Hair Day was a complete success, I'd love to hear any of those songs at a show as well. He should do all of Gump, its only a two minute song, and they always do it anyway.

[Killingsworth]

Does anyone know how many of those old Food Medley songs were ever actually attempted as full length songs and Al got turned down? I would guess some of them like Take The L Out of Liver, Burger King, Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut, We Got The Beef, etc would only work as short little snippets. But did he ever approach the Thompson Twins, for instance, or any other artists behind the Food Medley songs that said no?

My guess was that he was going to approach the Thomspon Twins before his record label made him record GJWHL. That is the only parody I can imagine getting booted off the DTBS album to make room for that.

[CatraDhtem]

It's also possible one of them didn't want to sign off on the parody. I assume Al always tries to get everyone involved in OK'ing the song.

Al said in one of the commentaries on TWAS that he prefers to get at least fifty percent of the songwriters to sign off on a parody.

[Whatinthe27]

Didn't the producers of Titanic decline Al for "Free Delivery"?

I got to talk to Bermuda during that tour. He said that he just didn't think it was funny enough to make into a full parody.

[Whatinthe27]

My guess was that he was going to approach the Thomspon Twins before his record label made him record GJWHL. That is the only parody I can imagine getting booted off the DTBS album to make room for that.[/quote]

Make room? That album was short a parody. And one of them was old. (Yoda)

And another NO, the estate of Dr. Suess turned down Green Eggs & Ham/Numb by U2. They said they were only willing to allow use of his writings for educational purposes.

[minnick27]

I believe Billy Joel had heard it and was not pleased. Al was apprehensive about asking for permission for OTaS because of it

[JCM]

And another NO, the estate of Dr. Suess turned down Green Eggs & Ham/Numb by U2. They said they were only willing to allow use of his writings for educational purposes.

Was that after he died? Because I'm sure it wouldn't have happened like that otherwise.

[spmahn]

I believe Billy Joel had heard it and was not pleased. Al was apprehensive about asking for permission for OTaS because of it

Sorry if this is derailing the conversation, but might it be possible for us to limit the use of initialisms on the board? It may be easy for those of you familiar with them, who post here every day, but it gets a bit frustrating after a while to read posts or threads full of them and not have so much as a clue as to what is being referenced. So what exactly is OTaS?

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Ode to a Superhero.

[Whatinthe27]

Was that after he died? Because I'm sure it wouldn't have happened like that otherwise.

Yes. As I said, the Dr. Suess estate turned him down. ..... and then a couple years later, they sold the movie rights.