World of Weird Al Yankovic

Skippy wrote:

Bruce the Duck wrote: This is similar to how people have noted that odd numbered tracks are parodies/polkas and even tracks are originals. It's not true on the early albums, but that's only because of the fact that the older albums were on cassettes/LPs and he wanted a parody to lead each side of the album.

It's also not true on SOL, but I know, I know, you have an excuse for that too.

Why is it so hard to just accept that there aren't rules for how Al put albums together? There are trends, but those have been broken for any number of reasons, and the fact that Al is planning on having a lead single seems like as good a reason as any.

Oh, I'm with you on that. I was one of the first to speculate on this possibility, and I thought it was a strong possibility at first. A ton of clues tend to point to Handy being Happy, the "no lead single" thing being among them. But in retrospect, I am having a hard time fitting "handy" into "happy" when I play the song in my head. That's all.

Bruce the Duck wrote: But in retrospect, I am having a hard time fitting "handy" into "happy" when I play the song in my head. That's all.

I get that, but I think people are overstating how awkward it is. It's really not at all; it's just not as smooth as "Tacky." But keep in mind, we're making this assessment after the fact. It's not like Al was sitting there trying to decide between these two songs and these two parodies.

Also I keep coming back to this picture, from the set of the video shot after recording the "Fancy" parody. Does that shirt Al's wearing look like something a handyman would wear, or something a tacky person would wear? So, to me, either the "Fancy" parody is "Tacky" or that video is for the "Happy" parody. (Which, after watching the "Happy" video just now, makes a lot of sense.) But if that video shoot was for a "Fancy" parody called "Handy," then I don't know what to make of that shirt.

I still kind of think that video might not be for either, and might be for Word Crimes instead, though if it is I don't understand the choice of the shirt.

But let's say the video was for "Tacky" and that "Tacky" is the "Fancy" parody. Wouldn't he put that as the first track? It would be weird to have the song with such a big video (starring Jack Black) at the end of the album.

Either way, I have no idea what's up with that shirt, but it's possible that it's just what Al was wearing that day and has nothing to do with the actual video at all..

Bruce the Duck wrote:But let's say the video was for "Tacky" and that "Tacky" is the "Fancy" parody. Wouldn't he put that as the first track?

Why? Why does where a song appears on the album matter?

It would be weird to have the song with such a big video (starring Jack Black) at the end of the album.

Again, why would that be weird? Because it's not what we're used to? So what? There are EIGHT videos for this album (so far.) Some of those are going to be toward the end. I know we think that many of those are "throwaway" or "minor" videos or whatever, but we also know that more than one of them is live-action and we have no idea what kind of budget we're talking about for any of them.

Either way, I have no idea what's up with that shirt, but it's possible that it's just what Al was wearing that day and has nothing to do with the actual video at all..

Yes, that's always possible. It's certainly a unique choice then.

I think it's possible that, after recording Handy, maybe he didn't think it would carry as a lead single on its own, so Al decided to open up the album to "multiple singles" by shooting a celeb cameo-filled music video for Tacky. That would explain the shirt and the fanny packs too.

TMBJon wrote:I think it's possible that, after recording Handy, maybe he didn't think it would carry as a lead single on its own, so Al decided to open up the album to "multiple singles" by shooting a celeb cameo-filled music video for Tacky. That would explain the shirt and the fanny packs too.

Absolutely a possibility. Honestly, my thinking that "Fancy" was "Tacky" was based primarily on those pictures from the video shoot, which I was just assuming was for the "Fancy" parody. But it makes just as much sense that "Happy" is "Tacky" and that shoot was for that video. I literally just watched the "Happy" video for the first time today, and I could totally see that working for both the "Tacky" theme and that cast list.

TMBJon wrote:I think it's possible that, after recording Handy, maybe he didn't think it would carry as a lead single on its own, so Al decided to open up the album to "multiple singles" by shooting a celeb cameo-filled music video for Tacky. That would explain the shirt and the fanny packs too.

Yeah, that's certainly a possibility. I have been doubting all along that the video he did with Black was for the Fancy parody because of how quickly it was put together after Iggy's blessing. And a "Happy" video would be easy to throw together, as would a "Blurred Lines" video.

Something else to keep in mind: the video for "Happy" had a lot of celebrity cameo appearances in it. Could Jack Black be filling that role in the "Tacky" video?

Moneybags wrote:I've been kind of figuring that the whole "there isn't a lead single" post was more of a "please listen to all of the songs on the album and not just the Iggy Azalea parody that TMZ keeps talking about" angle, as opposed to an "I'm changing up the format of my album this time" angle.

Moneybags wrote:I've been kind of figuring that the whole "there isn't a lead single" post was more of a "please listen to all of the songs on the album and not just the Iggy Azalea parody that TMZ keeps talking about" angle, as opposed to an "I'm changing up the format of my album this time" angle.

I totally agree; the first time Al posted that on Twitter, I assumed it was just his way of getting the vast majority of casual fans into the rest of the album, instead of zoning out after the first track. He made a bigger deal of it on Facebook, but probably was only elaborating because he didn't have a character limit.