World of Weird Al Yankovic

I'm guessing Al generally prefers not to pick songs in a high female register. I know he has done it before, but logically it has to be more comfortable to sing "men's songs" for practical reasons, especially on tour

Which is why I would be more than fine with a p-p-p-poker face my p-poker face refrain in the polka and moving on.

TMBJon wrote:Which is why I would be more than fine with a p-p-p-poker face my p-poker face refrain in the polka and moving on.

Yes, indeed. Polka Face is just too obvious and everyone on the planet has already thought of that "brilliant" idea.

Don't be silly, whenever Al does a parody of a female's song he just lowers the key so it fits his register.

ludovica64 wrote:I'm guessing Al generally prefers not to pick songs in a high female register. I know he has done it before, but logically it has to be more comfortable to sing "men's songs" for practical reasons, especially on tour

The only times female artists Al has bothered to parody so far are Joant Jett, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, (unwillingly) Alanis Morisette, Celine Dion, The Go-gos, (in concert only) TLC, Tiffany and Avril Lavigne. He indeed changed the register all but two of those times. Christina Aguilera seems to have been virtually ignored altogether by Al, IIRC. Also, I never said Al should stretch "Polka Face" to a full lentgh parody song if that's what anyone was thinking. I was just saying if that one ended up in the polka meldey, he might just be strongly tempted to change that one lyric. Hey, he did it to the Rolling Stones back in '86.

...and yeah, "Polka Face" does seem just a tad too obvious for Al by this point, but then again so did the lyric "tell me/why'd ya have to go and make me so constipated?" by 2003 so I wouldn't rule that out entirely just yet...

Not to mention "Canadian Idiot", though to his credit it was executed beautifully.

caseyk27 wrote:

ludovica64 wrote:I'm guessing Al generally prefers not to pick songs in a high female register. I know he has done it before, but logically it has to be more comfortable to sing "men's songs" for practical reasons, especially on tour

I was just saying if that one ended up in the polka meldey, he might just be strongly tempted to change that one lyric. Hey, he did it to the Rolling Stones back in '86.

Which Stones lyric did he change?

Ya ya ya, do the Harlem polka. Everybody now! Ya ya ya, do the Harlem polka.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOkIU8BCxgU

I was thinking about the Blackeyed Peas. I know he already did Lets Get It Started but their latest album was much more of a pop culture phenomenom. They had such a long run with Boom Boom Pow, I Got a Feeling. Meet Me Halfway did not catch on quite as much and it is yet to be seen if Imma Be will be a smash. It will be difficult though for Al to do a parody as their are the Fergie and will.i.am vocals that are so prominent. There was a whole subgenre of that kind of thing several years ago where everything seemed to be a duet with J Lo and Ja Rule etc. If Al could get a prominent female artist to appear on a song it still would be tricky in concert. It also seems like every r and b song is a collaboration (Drake, Eminem, Lil Wayne etc etc) these days too.
I agree that Lady Gaga is such a obvious target that does not come around that often anymore. She had such a string of hits and is an easy target with her fashion style and behavior. It is not that often that Al pulls off a female solo artist as the lead parody but again who knows. I'm sure whatever he does is going to be great!

I really hope he does not parody Black Eyed Peas. There's no way I would like it unless it was in the vein of Achy Breaky Song.

I think that what White & Nerdy proved is that Al does not have to parody the hugest name or most obvious target in order to have a huge hit. He just needs the right idea paired with the right song. The day I met Al for the first time during the W&N shoot, he expressed reservations about whether this was the right target. I told him it was a similar choice to parodying Gangsta's Paradise. Not the biggest song, but it was the right idea. I sincerely hope Al learned this lesson for future parodies, or at least lead singles.