World of Weird Al Yankovic

"It's Still Billy Joel to Me" was never banned. I don't even think Al asked for permission. I remember hearing that Al didn't think Billy would approve of it, so he didn't even bother to ask.

algonacchick @ Feb 17 2004, 11:58 AM wrote: In the case of "Here's Johnny" and "Jerry Springer", those songs are about public figures. Al said that he has free reign to mention any public figure he wants in any of his songs without asking permisson.

I'm not so sure that is the same principle here. Movie title or not, Spider-Man is still a fictional character and a corporate trademark. I mean, most fictional characters are public figures, yet obviously a person can't just use Mickey Mouse or Darth Vader on a retail product without some form of permission.

Perhaps it all falls under the acceptable use of satire since Al is poking fun at the movie?

The fact that there is usually the "Yoda is a registered trademark..." disclaimer but not a "Forrest Gump is a registered trademark..." disclaimer seems to indicate that it may have been Lucasfilm's condition since the character's complete official name was being used for the title. Then, of course, that leads to the question of the title of "Jurassic Park."



There most likely is no one blanket permission rule when it comes to the movie songs.

Well, I wasn't referring to Spiderman when I said that about "Jerry Springer" and "Here's Johnny". I was just addressing the other half of BTD's post. I also backed that up with a quote frm al himself. I agree about the Spiderman thing, now that I've thought about it. He did talk about the plot of the movie, after all. It might make a good question for Ask Al.

And as far as The Brady Bunch, I'm sure Al thanked Sherwood Schwartz for that one, too.

Patti

why is everybody ganging up on me?

algonacchick @ Feb 17 2004, 10:54 PM wrote: Well, I wasn't referring to Spiderman when I said that about "Jerry Springer" and "Here's Johnny".

Ah, gotcha. I thought you were saying that since Spidey's name was in a movie title, it therefore put him into the category of an all-accessible public figure. Sorry I misinterpreted your post.

Ok, it's cool. Yeah, the Spiderman song does bring up a good point about using movie titles/plots in a song, and whether or not permission is needed to do so. Like I said, good question for Ask Al. Maybe someone who could word it properly, like OE could submit it.

Patti

Well, I guess I could, once Al starts actually answering questions again. But I don't think he gives priority to elegantly-worded questions.

Well, he might if he understood those questions better than those that aren't worded so eloquently.



Patti

I've noticed that if a question can be answered more than one way, Al will choose the less obvious way. So, wording is important if you want a "straight" answer.

I miss Ask Al.

doggans @ Feb 10 2004, 07:52 PM wrote: And Al couldn't do "Gee I'm A Nerd" due to a certain evildoer known as Yoko. Paul was all for it, though.

Really, Paul McCartney seems like almost as nice a guy as Al. After all, he let Al put "Hey  Jude" into "Polkas on 45".

I am a huge Al fan, but even I think I would have an issue with "Gee, I'm a Nerd". Beatle fans took "Free as a bird" very seriously as it was the first time in over 20 years that all four Beatles performed on a song (even though John was there through the power of technology).

I think the song is even more special now because of George's passing.

PS-Paul is NOT a nice guy. Did you forget how he was fighting Yoko for name placement on the old Beatle songs? He felt he wrote more of certain songs than John did so he wanted his name to appear first (vs. the way they are now: Lennon/McCartney). He has everything he could ever want. Does name placement really matter NOW??? Dork.....

I don't see how the credit switch makes him not nice, or a dork. It was just unnecessary, and Paul admits that.

Anyway...topic?