"Weird Al" Yankovic

by

"Weird Al" Yankovic

Edit

On Weird Al's first album, his send-ups do not duplicate the instrumentation of the originals, but rather rely on his accordion and some silly rude noise sounds. However, he does skewer pop culture icons and celebrities, and he does sing about food a lot, as seen by two song parodies here. No, this is one of two studio albums where there are no polka medleys, Even Worse being the other one. What's also noticeable and good about his albums is that as a satirist, he's in tune with what's going on and anyone listening to his albums will think, "Oh yeah, I remember that happening." or "Gosh, that's when this happened?" and link Weird Al's album to celebrity or other events in America and elsewhere.

"Ricky," a parody of Toni Basil's cheerleader number "Mickey," is Al's take on I Love Lucy, a conversation between Lucy and Ricky. The voice of Lucy is by Tress MacNeille, a scratchy Cyndi Lauper meets Donald Duck, and adds to the humorous quality here. She even sings "Oh Ricky, what a pity, don't you understand. that everyday's a rerun and the laughter's always canned." Al of course sings Ricky's lines.

"Gotta Boogie" is a dance floor burner which has hand claps and accordion, and after repeating the title several times, he says in full, "Gotta boogie on my finger and I can't shake it off." Of this problematic object, he says "I can't take it off, I can't flick it off, I sure ain't gonna lick it off."

The next song parody features an accordion and with silly lip music playing throughout, and it's about Weird Al's favourite flavor of ice cream. I presume Joan Jett has a good sense of humour when Al sent up her best known song, with this chorus: "I Love Rocky Road/so won't you go and buy half a gallon baby/I love rocky road/so have another triple scoop with me." He's such an ice cream junkie, he says "Just lock me up in the freezer and throw away the key."

"Buckingham Blues" is about "Chuck and Diane, a couple of British kids from the palace of Buckingham." Guess who? Al does a rough blues voice that sends up George Thorogood and James Brown. He even screams "got my mojo workin'" for good measure.

"Happy Birthday" sports a fast punkish sound (with accordion, I know), and Rick Derringer's guitar. He wishes happy birthday while talking about disastrous things happening around in the meantime: "the monkeys in the Pentagon are gonna cook our goose, their fingers are on the button, all they need's an excuse" Wacky and crazy!

"Stop Draggin' My Car Around"--hmm, bet Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty didn't sing this one, but maybe they drove the tow truck that keeps getting Al's car. No, of course not.

"Ooh my little hungry one, hungry one, open up a package of my bologna" An accordion and guitar food song, "My Bologna" sends up the Knack's "My Sharona" "Never gonna stop/eat it up/such a tasty snack/I always eat too much/then throw up... my my my..." Tho thilly!

How about a song comprising of the cliched lies used to fob off people? That's what "The Check's In The Mail" is, including golden oldies such as "we'll get back to you soon", "you're beautiful", "my girl will call your girl", or "would I lie to you?"

There's just an accordion, drums, and lip music in "Another One Rides The Bus", about a torturous experience on a crowded smelly bus. I played this backwards and I thought I heard "It's fun to smoke bologna, bologna..." Oh wait, that was the previous parody. Never mind.

"I'll Be Mellow When I'm Dead" is a playful slap against fads-of-the-month, such as organic food, Perrier, and 8-tracks (remember those?). Jon Schwartz does a nice guitar solo, and does a banjo and uke here. However, I had to purse my lips when I heard something against vegetarianism. "Mr. Frump In The Iron Lung" may be offensive to those sensitive about handicapped people, but it's basically how sometimes, silence can be golden, in terms of no arguments, politics, lies, and the like.

Al really sounds fresh and quite loony in his debut and if one notices the animated cover, there are elements of his songs in it, such as Mr. Frump, bologna, and a TV with I Love Lucy on. A great album, produced by that rock and roll hoochie coo man, Rick Derringer, who also does guitar here. Aw, trust me, would I lie to you? And I'll get back to you real soon. My girl will call your girl. Just kidding.

I like this album, but I can't bring myself to say I love it. Since this is his first album, it doesn't have the snazzy, razzle-dazzle polish of later works, but that's fine. It means we get more accordion in a more intimate setting. "Another One Rides the Bus" was actually recorded in the studio of the legendary Dr. Demento, and consists of Al on vocals and accordion, Steve Jay on accordion case (really!) with the good Doctor backing up on duck call. Simple, silly and inspired. The parodies are fun, but most of the original songs are little lackluster. I do have to admit I like "I'll Be Mellow When I'm Dead"; even though it seems dated in some ways, it's still dead on overall.

On its own, this album isn't much. But if you are a fan (or just want to look like one), this is a key to seeing how Al's talents and vision have formed over the decades (and for decades to come we hope!)