My favorite single reference in this song is the "irony is not coincidence" line with the image of "rain on your wedding day". As a former English teacher, this whole song is so cathartic, though. Literally.
Sam mentioned Al's cadence being spot on, that's what makes him so popular for so long. His parodies match the originals almost 100%. It's cool that he didn't need his degree in architecture since his career was successful.
He covered at least four of my pet-peeves; “I could care less”instead of “I couldn’t care less”; The total misuse now of “literally”; the misuse of the concept of irony. This would be GREAT in school. Few students think it’s fun to learn proper grammar, but it’s so important if you don’t want to come across as ignorant. LOVED THIS !
@ 😂😂. I was wondering if anyone would notice! Well, one is the difference between “good” and “well”. “it’s” doesn’t bother me so much because it’s such an arbitrary decision on the part of grammarians. But I will say my very worst pet peeve wasn’t covered; the use of “went” instead of “gone” whenever you use the subjunctive case. EVERYBODY it seems under 60 these days says “ I could have went”. “I should have went” instead of gone. But I also know that language changes over time. So I have just accepted that that is what’s going on here: What once would have been considered improper grammar is now the norm. Still drives me nuts though. Thanks for asking. I did beg the question, didn’t I. 😉😏
@@helenespaulding7562 So true, especially the went/gone thing. I've got a whole bunch of these that I see all the time (not even counting the most ubiquitous ones involving not knowing when to use your or you're, or their/they're/there): _Me and her went to the store_ _It's more so that..._ _As good or better than..._ _A whole nother thing..._ _Hone in_ _Very unique_ _PIN number_ _Hot water heater_ Using _cringe_ and _shook_ as an adjectives ("that's so cringe"; "I was shook").
@ honestly, I think allot of those are spellcheck that finishes a word as you’re typing. Luckily, most times I proofread what I’ve written and so catch most of them. But sometimes I do miss a few. 😏😁 Your list made me smile. 😁 I’m afraid I fall in with PIN number. Never thought about what the acronym meant. Now that I think about it, it is redundant isn’t it….. Another of my worst peeves is the whole I and me thing: People started thinking that “I” sounded more proper , so now they use it in the objective case when “me” is correct. “He gave the tickets to Glen and I”. It’s so stupid because you’d never say “he gave the tickets to I.” Have you ever read the book Eats Shoots and Leaves? If not, you must take a look at it. Hysterical.
@ _"People started thinking that 'I' sounded more proper..."_ Ah, yes, I've definitely seen that. Same with using the posh sounding "whom" when "who" is actually correct. I've heard some defend "PIN number" on the grounds that PIN has become a word in its own right, and is thus no longer strictly an acronym. So there's that in your defense ;-) Thanks for the book recommendation - I'll definitely check it out.
My mother was an English professor in numerous states, and 3 countries. I played this for her when it came out. She told me that she wished that “Word Crimes” had come out when she was teaching because she would’ve used it. She used my Loreena McKennitt albums quite often since she put so much poetry to music.
A friend of mine kept saying, “I literally died.” I kept pointing out that if they literally died they literally wouldn’t be able to tell me they were dead. Unless I was being texted by a ghost. Finally, after me trying to explain it for the umpteenth time, they did it again. So I sent flowers to their parents, with a note expressing my condolences on the loss of their child. Later that day, I got a very angry phone call from my friend. But they stopped using the word. Literally.
@billyoliver4000 Quite right, School House Rock is fantastic. I am glad to have the episodes in my physical media collection to help pass the lessons along.
I was an intelligence analyst in the army and I had to do quite a bit of sitting through boring classes and briefs. This one time I went to a class called "intelligence document crafting" that was basically a writing class. Dry, boring stuff. There's about 20 of us analysts in this class and we're all expecting this to be the same old struggle to stay awake that we're used to. The instructor says he wants to start the class with a quick video covering what we will be going over during our time in this class. He proceeds to start this music video. When I say this video had the room dying 😂 That ended up being a really fun class with this video setting the tone
The amount of work behind every cover he makes must be immense. Finding the right lyrics, make them rhyme and sing them in sinc with the music must be hell. Amazing artist.
I taught Conversational English in Costa Rica for 21 years, and loved this song for classroom use. I printed the lyrics, and had fun with the song with the students. Great fun for all.
Funny thing is, I think using a letter for a word like "U R" for "you are", originated from pagers that had text input, because there was only a limited amount of text and it took a long time to type on them. But after cellphones with touch screens there was no reason for it anymore.
That makes sense and now, in these days of autofill, using numbers for words makes even less sense. I find myself using fewer abbreviations because autofill will fill in Monday if I type Mon. or September for Sep.
This came out when everyone was saying “literally” all the time and it was driving me crazy. Then I realized in the song, I may have actually said “expresso” on accident a few times and I was feeling a bit silly. 😂
Hello Sam and Phil. Weird Al Yankovic is one of a handful of artists who have had a Top Forty hit in the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in four different decades. Eat It hit in 1984, Smells Like Nirvana in 1992, White and Nerdy in 2006, and Word Crimes in 2014.
The "your name is Prince" line is a light-hearted dig at "the Artist Formerly Known As Prince", who famously refused Al permission to parody *any* of his songs. Al technically did not *need* permission, as parodies are covered under Fair Use laws, but Al has consistently asked for and complied with permission - the only exception being "Amish Paradise", where permission was granted by the label, but (unknown to Al) not by Coolio.
I never bought that line that Coolio didn't want him doing his song. I think he said yes, but didn't count on the parody being so popular that he'd be asked about it over and over.
Yes, because various forms of "Word Crimes" have NOT existed throughout history in the forms of slang. While it is understandable that it should not be used in more professional settings. Slang is a VALID for of communication. have you ever heard of 'pig Latin', 'double speak', 'suffer lingo', 'jive talking", etc.? How about you are NOT always a "Language police" Karen / Daren and learn to (as Frankie said) relax and go with the 'flow' and have some fun. I am sure that in your real life, you wouldn't want to get a ticket every time you (or a relative or close friend) jaywalked or went just 1 mile over the speed limit.
Michael Jackson loved Weird Al's parodies. To the point that he gave Al the locations where Michael's video for "Bad" was filmed. So that Al could make his video "Fat" in the exact locations to mimic the original as closely as possible. It is worth viewing.
"Michael Jackson loved Weird Al's parodies. To the point that he gave Al the locations where Michael's video for 'Bad' was filmed." That's one sentence, not two. WORD CRIMES! (o:Þ
James Brown also provided a lot of help for "Living With A Hernia". He provided Al with the actual dancers from Brown's video as well as actual dance instruction to match the dance moves.
Well kinda right. The "Bad" location was the one they used for the kid's version for Moonwalker. (Al mentioned how the set was a bit smaller than the actual location)
My favorite easter egg in his video is at 3:23 when the music video is flipping through the "A"s, and it pauses ever so slightly to spotlight an early photo of Al holding his signature instrument under the entry for "Accordion". Also excited as heck - finally gonna get to see the man in concert in Boston this summer with my grandson.
😁😂🤣;p EDIT: Request: 'Trapped In The Drive-true' --> hopefully you both have seen the original clips 'Trapped in the Closet' by Kelly or the song/video spoof might 'fly over your head' but it still showcases Al's vocal range and humour when it comes to 'couple' relationships.
This might be my absolute favorite Weird Al song, and I have been a fan since I first thought "WTF?" and then laughed hearing his first song "Another One Rides The Bus" based on Queen's 1980 song "Another One Bites The Dust". I got to hear it when a buddy of mine brought back this weird four song comedy album he'd been given as a joke gift by a cousin while visiting family in California the summer of 1981. I bet he wishes he still had the album now, as there weren't that many made and it's near priceless. It doesn't matter what Weird Al song you do next as even the ones I'm not that fond of are still good. 😀Amish Paradise and the Fat/Eat it duo were probably the others in my top three until White and Nerdy hit. 😀
One of his most underrated songs is Hardware Store .... not really a remake of another artist's song, but rather quite impressive when he gets to rapping names of hardware and tools near the end of the song ..... his pace is mind blowing
I have been a fan of Al since the early 70's when he was only on Dr. Demento radio show and there was no MTV. He inspired a lot of us to do similar covers but not nearly as well.
IDK when he'll tour again, but he does these songs live on stage. In the fat costume even. He's definitely a true musician. I friend of mine saw him 3 different times.
I actually write with the letters & numbers shorthand when texting a younger cousin because our texts can get long enough it will say I ran out of room. However with everyone else I typically watch my grammar & spelling. 😂 I don't care if someone uses it with me in casual notes or texts, but I totally back Weird Al's point that too many people these days aren't learning the basics correctly. It's understandable if someone has a learning disability, but most seem to have not put in the effort to pay attention in school.
The only actual irony involved in that song is in a song constantly asking "Isn't it ironic", nothing in that song is ironic. Sad, frustrating, or unfortunate, but not Ironic.
Foil and Tacky should be your next Ai adventure . Tacky has so many celebrity friends/ fans of his . Love this song . I've heard that in his concerts he actually changes into costumes from his videos . I would love to see him live .
Greetings Sam and Phil yes, most of those express in the video can be seen as "word crimes" if used in a more mature or professional environment. However, most (not all) of the time, it is about brevity of disseminating a message (usually in text or quick IM to a friend or relative). In THAT context, it should be 'overlooked' because it becomes a sub-lexicon / specific slang, mainly used by the younger generations. This has been the process for centuries. It was true in the 60's, 70s (with the hippie gen), 80's and 90's (with the skater and gen Xer's) and it has continued in toe 00's, 10's, 20's, and it will continue in the 30's, 40's, and so on. There is also a sub-slang in the surfing, rock climbing, hip hop, and gamer communities. Can anyone remember 'pig Latin' and "double speak'. People should 'chill out' sometimes and NOT be so language "Karen purists" all the time. Have patience and flexibility. Learn to have some fun and 'secrecy' with language. It can actually develop more neuro pathways like learning a new language.
OK to clarify some of the language trends 1. substituting numbers for letters is form of writing call L33t (read as elite) speak a very nerdy thing to do. The origins or message compression is from the days when cell phones came with screens and you could send texts / SMS (Short Message Service) which had a maximum length of 160 characters and were charged for each message sent. So short hand evolved to compress the message into as few character possible so B C R U where now used as almost a homophone where sound represented the word . This passed onto next generations to use in their messaging services I remember when MSN Messenger was King, then Skype took over, but this message shorthand just became part of the language when communicating.
This is from his last album. He doesnt seem to want to do anymore. But released a polka (as is tradition on his albums) to cover songs from the last 10 years.
This video is done in thr style of the shortform psas done in the 1970's called "Schoolhouse Rock". They played with children's tv, especially Saturday morning cartoons in the U.S. The head of the network wanted to educate kids in a fun way. Do a youtube search, and watch some.
'I lost on Jeopardy', "Like a Surgeon', 'Another One Rides the Bus' (Al's earliest), 'Jurassic Park', 'I Bought It on Ebay'. Just to name a few more they need to touch.
I think another good one to check out is a slightly different style from Al, his 'sound alike' songs which are not direct parodies but are tracks done in the style of a particular group or artist, my selection from these would be Dare to Be Stupid which is done in the style of Devo and was described by the lead singer of Devo as being "The best Devo song, that Devo never sang"...
Another humorous artist you may like is Ray Stevens. There is a big difference in their styles. Weird Al takes a popular song, corrupts the title, then writes humorous lyrics to the music that fit the new title. Stevens writes original music and puts a humorous anecdote to the music. His songs are typically not funny in the first verse because that is the set up. The remaining verses and the chorus are hilarious. Although the anecdotes are probably not true, they at least sound like they could be plausible. Some of his songs are, "The Mississippi Squirrel Revival," about a squirrel that runs amok during a church service. The havoc it causes is misinterpreted by the congregation as the Holy Spirit. Another song is "Sitting Up with the Dead,": about the time between a person passing away and their burial in a very rural area.
Al has plenty of original songs, too. Examples include: One More Minute, You Don't Love Me Anymore, Dare to be Stupid, Melanie, and Hardware Store. About half of the songs on each of his 14 studio albums are original songs.
Oh they have to touch 'Mississipii Squirrel', 'The Streak', and 'It's Me Again, Margaret' by Ray. Not to mention is Grammy winning 'Everyone is Beautiful'.
@mustangdebbie56 that is true, but he is known for his parodies. If one if his original songs became a hit. a large percentage of listeners did he scratching their heads trying to figure out which song he was parodying.
@richwelling3409 Sure. But there were plenty of fans who assumed songs like Jurrasic Park and I Lost on Jeopardy were original songs because they were unfamiliar with McArthur Park and the Greg Kihn Band's song Jeopardy. If you ask fans who actually bought his albums, most of them will name his original songs as favorites. In his last tour, the main setlist was only his original songs. His upcoming tour will be back to a mix of popular parodies and a few originals.
Don’t forget Ray Stevens also did the theme songs of the Cannonball Run movies and those were pretty mainstream. I think they/it might’ve even been on the Billboard charts.
Just to be clear, Mandatory Fun was not the FIRST album to hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100, but it WAS the first to do so in over 50 years. The previous album to do so was Allan Sherman's My Son the Nut in 1963.
First time coming across your content, immediate like and subscribe. Don't know if you concentrate on songs, comedy, or what, but have a couple of English suggestions. Mitch Benn - Imagine you were mine. I first saw Mitch live at an event and immediately fell in love with his irreverent humour. Morecambe and wise - stripper breakfast where they make a full English breakfast to 'that' music. The Barron Knights - Masochistic And Sadistic Hospital song where they make fun of the UK health services to the tune of the theme from "M.A.S.H.". Sorry if you have done any of these before.
Actually Al had his first song played on Dr. Demento in 1976 when Al was just 16. Al had gone to see Dr. Demento and gave him a demo tape containing a mix of parodies and originals. The 1st song, Belvedere Cruising, intrigued Demento and he played it on his show. He got his first record deal in 79 when he recorded My Bologna
The mandatory fun album was Al's last album. He is sort of semi-retired now though he won't admit it 😂 he released 8 music videos from this album, and each one is spectacular. Tacky, Handy, first world problems, Foil, Mission Statement, Lame Claim to Fame, and Word Crimes.
I agree. This album is all great and Tacky has a lot of celebrity guests acting in the video. Mission Statement is a CSN style song similar to Suite Judy Blue Eyes, I believe.
This is one of the songs that makes you realize Al is genius. This is in my top 3 along with Tacky and Foil.. White and Nerdy may be 4th, but it has a lot of competition.
NO ACRONYMS! GFD! Had to here, because UA-cam don't care for cuss words. Great song. I've been guilty of these at times as I have dyslexia. But I try to write and use grammar properly. Weird Al always asked permission from the artists and as a result the man is well respected. Try Ode to A Superhero a Parody of Billy Joel's Piano Man.
The Kinetic Typography trend was probably just past its peak when this video came out; it had been building in popularity on UA-cam for a while, by then. At the time, everyone was doing their own Kinetic Typography rendition of V's introduction, from V for Vendetta. I guess the lesson from weird Al is that you can Dare to Be Stupid, just make sure to do it in a grammatically correct fashion. (Let's see if YT eats my comment again...)
Al is in the video: in the beginning, at the dictionary flipping pages, and on one page at the word "accordion" there is a picture of Al with an accordion...
My favorite songs by him is (1) Tacky ( from the song Im Happy )( 2) Preform thus way ( making fun of lady gaga i was born this way ) (3) I'm so handy ( from Iggy Azaela I'm so fancy). Give these a try and I can give a few more. Love you guys channel
I love his creativity. I'm new to your page, so not sure what videos by him you have seen so far. His song One More Minute cracks me up. I love doo wop songs and this song is done in that style. This song isn't a parody of someone else's song. It's an original that he wrote.
Some of my pet peeves are when I see comments online and people use the word "casted" as past tense for cast. Instead of, you know, *cast* . "I'm so glad (that actress) got casted for that role." Or, they'd probably spell out "roll."🙄 Or when people type out "per say" instead of "per se." Others have already been mentioned by other commenters. Commenters -- is that a word?😉
The first known use, as far as I remember from "Adam Ruins Everything", of "literally" used in place of "figuratively" was Dickens and other fellow writers. So, if even the writers who defined what we consider modern English (as opposed to creating it like Shakespeare) used it "improperly" I think we can excuse it.
I love Weird Al, my brother meet him in downtown Phoenix, he asked for directions and my brother who is PPD gave him directions and Weird Al was very pleasant to everyone. I also Live the word crimes video, but I do dislike the fact that I could be texting someone about the working conditions of cobalt mines in Africa, and they point out my word crime, and I’m like could please address the issue, not my grammar. My grammar doesn’t change what is going on in Ghana…
My favorite single reference in this song is the "irony is not coincidence" line with the image of "rain on your wedding day". As a former English teacher, this whole song is so cathartic, though. Literally.
Isn't it ironic that a song called "Ironic" doesn't actually contain any instances of irony?
Weird Al also mentioned “stalking Alanis Morrisette” In another song. My Baby’s in Love With Eddy Vedder.
@@arakasi2 That's the only irony associated with that song, actually...
Best way to react to Weird Al is to put all his song names in a bowl and draw one at a time. You won't pull a bad one.
Sam mentioned Al's cadence being spot on, that's what makes him so popular for so long. His parodies match the originals almost 100%. It's cool that he didn't need his degree in architecture since his career was successful.
Best of all, he was able to use that degree to give us "Handy."
I hope "Foil" and "Handy" are your next Weird Al reactions.
And "Tacky"!
“Foil” is my favorite Word Al song, parody inside a parody. Video is great!
He covered at least four of my pet-peeves; “I could care less”instead of “I couldn’t care less”; The total misuse now of “literally”; the misuse of the concept of irony.
This would be GREAT in school. Few students think it’s fun to learn proper grammar, but it’s so important if you don’t want to come across as ignorant.
LOVED THIS !
So what was the 4th pet peeve? Just curious...
@ 😂😂. I was wondering if anyone would notice!
Well, one is the difference between “good” and “well”. “it’s” doesn’t bother me so much because it’s such an arbitrary decision on the part of grammarians.
But I will say my very worst pet peeve wasn’t covered; the use of “went” instead of “gone” whenever you use the subjunctive case. EVERYBODY it seems under 60 these days says “ I could have went”. “I should have went” instead of gone. But I also know that language changes over time. So I have just accepted that that is what’s going on here: What once would have been considered improper grammar is now the norm. Still drives me nuts though.
Thanks for asking. I did beg the question, didn’t I. 😉😏
@@helenespaulding7562 So true, especially the went/gone thing. I've got a whole bunch of these that I see all the time (not even counting the most ubiquitous ones involving not knowing when to use your or you're, or their/they're/there):
_Me and her went to the store_
_It's more so that..._
_As good or better than..._
_A whole nother thing..._
_Hone in_
_Very unique_
_PIN number_
_Hot water heater_
Using _cringe_ and _shook_ as an adjectives ("that's so cringe"; "I was shook").
@ honestly, I think allot of those are spellcheck that finishes a word as you’re typing. Luckily, most times I proofread what I’ve written and so catch most of them. But sometimes I do miss a few. 😏😁
Your list made me smile. 😁
I’m afraid I fall in with PIN number. Never thought about what the acronym meant. Now that I think about it, it is redundant isn’t it…..
Another of my worst peeves is the whole I and me thing: People started thinking that “I” sounded more proper , so now they use it in the objective case when “me” is correct. “He gave the tickets to Glen and I”. It’s so stupid because you’d never say “he gave the tickets to I.”
Have you ever read the book Eats Shoots and Leaves? If not, you must take a look at it. Hysterical.
@
_"People started thinking that 'I' sounded more proper..."_
Ah, yes, I've definitely seen that. Same with using the posh sounding "whom" when "who" is actually correct.
I've heard some defend "PIN number" on the grounds that PIN has become a word in its own right, and is thus no longer strictly an acronym. So there's that in your defense ;-)
Thanks for the book recommendation - I'll definitely check it out.
His lyrical genius is astounding
My mother was an English professor in numerous states, and 3 countries. I played this for her when it came out. She told me that she wished that “Word Crimes” had come out when she was teaching because she would’ve used it. She used my Loreena McKennitt albums quite often since she put so much poetry to music.
A friend of mine kept saying, “I literally died.”
I kept pointing out that if they literally died they literally wouldn’t be able to tell me they were dead. Unless I was being texted by a ghost.
Finally, after me trying to explain it for the umpteenth time, they did it again.
So I sent flowers to their parents, with a note expressing my condolences on the loss of their child.
Later that day, I got a very angry phone call from my friend.
But they stopped using the word. Literally.
The problem is that todays kids dont have School House Rock 😉
Raised my kids on it. I have the full set on VHS & DVD.
@@billyoliver4000 It's available on MAX or Paramount+ for streaming...
I was going to say the same thing - but checked comments to not be redundant! 🙂
@billyoliver4000 Quite right, School House Rock is fantastic.
I am glad to have the episodes in my physical media collection to help pass the lessons along.
Conjunction Junction, what’s your function…..
I was an intelligence analyst in the army and I had to do quite a bit of sitting through boring classes and briefs. This one time I went to a class called "intelligence document crafting" that was basically a writing class. Dry, boring stuff. There's about 20 of us analysts in this class and we're all expecting this to be the same old struggle to stay awake that we're used to. The instructor says he wants to start the class with a quick video covering what we will be going over during our time in this class. He proceeds to start this music video. When I say this video had the room dying 😂 That ended up being a really fun class with this video setting the tone
wish this song had timed traveled back when i became an office monkey in the af and was handed the tongue and quill for official writing
The amount of work behind every cover he makes must be immense. Finding the right lyrics, make them rhyme and sing them in sinc with the music must be hell. Amazing artist.
You have to check out "Hardware Store". It isn't a parody, but is still great, and really shows off his rapping skills. I promise you will be amazed.
While everybody laughs at "Weird Al has a big dictionary", nobody comments on having a "cunning linguist". 😬
The latter might've been an older joke. I remember hearing it first in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) uttered by Moneypenny.
@@jp3813 I'd forgotten about that.
I assume many people totally miss the reference
I was going to comment about that very thing, but you beat me to it.
yeah....I caught that. Forgot to comment on it. Thanks for covering that one! 😉
Weird Al is a national treasure. Go see him live if you have the chance. Incredible!
Bosch Theatre in Boston July 15th. Taking my grandson!
@@r1pster05 Post here again after the show!
I taught Conversational English in Costa Rica for 21 years, and loved this song for classroom use. I printed the lyrics, and had fun with the song with the students. Great fun for all.
Weird Al is The G.O.A.T.
How about "All About The Pentiums"?
one of my favorites.
Funny thing is, I think using a letter for a word like "U R" for "you are", originated from pagers that had text input, because there was only a limited amount of text and it took a long time to type on them. But after cellphones with touch screens there was no reason for it anymore.
That makes sense and now, in these days of autofill, using numbers for words makes even less sense. I find myself using fewer abbreviations because autofill will fill in Monday if I type Mon. or September for Sep.
This came out when everyone was saying “literally” all the time and it was driving me crazy. Then I realized in the song, I may have actually said “expresso” on accident a few times and I was feeling a bit silly. 😂
"Handy" makes me laugh so hard every time I watch that.
The imagery in this video is what makes it so epic.
"Never mind, I give up" always has me rolling! 🤣
Oh, and the ANIMATION is FABULOUS! Shout out to the artist!
The Saga Begins - parody of American Pie by Don Mclean. Just brilliant, as usual.
Hello Sam and Phil. Weird Al Yankovic is one of a handful of artists who have had a Top Forty hit in the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in four different decades. Eat It hit in 1984, Smells Like Nirvana in 1992, White and Nerdy in 2006, and Word Crimes in 2014.
Al Yankovic is a musical GENIUS. can never hear too much of his work.
I think you're ready to move from his parodies to his original pieces. "Hardware Store" will blow your mind.
Tacky is another great one from this same album
this video should have earned an Emmy or something.
Emmy’s are for television. Grammys are for records. If this were a score, for a TV show or made for TV movie, then it could get an Emmy.
The "your name is Prince" line is a light-hearted dig at "the Artist Formerly Known As Prince", who famously refused Al permission to parody *any* of his songs. Al technically did not *need* permission, as parodies are covered under Fair Use laws, but Al has consistently asked for and complied with permission - the only exception being "Amish Paradise", where permission was granted by the label, but (unknown to Al) not by Coolio.
I'm guessing that means that Coolio didn't own his own songs?
My circle of friends used to call Prince TAFKAP, just to save syllables.
I never bought that line that Coolio didn't want him doing his song.
I think he said yes, but didn't count on the parody being so popular that he'd be asked about it over and over.
Most artists don't own their own songs...@@donjackson5522
I've churned butter once or twice...
It was the first comedy album to hit number one since the 60s when Allan Sherman hit number one with My Son, the Nut
One of my pet peeves is when someone responds "K" instead of okay. When they do I respond, well potassium to you too, and ask the question again.
Yes, because various forms of "Word Crimes" have NOT existed throughout history in the forms of slang. While it is understandable that it should not be used in more professional settings. Slang is a VALID for of communication. have you ever heard of 'pig Latin', 'double speak', 'suffer lingo', 'jive talking", etc.? How about you are NOT always a "Language police" Karen / Daren and learn to (as Frankie said) relax and go with the 'flow' and have some fun.
I am sure that in your real life, you wouldn't want to get a ticket every time you (or a relative or close friend) jaywalked or went just 1 mile over the speed limit.
The saga begins is a must😂 Also Party in the CIA and The hardware store. Great reaction I'm here for more! Greetings from Norway🇧🇻
Michael Jackson loved Weird Al's parodies. To the point that he gave Al the locations where Michael's video for "Bad" was filmed. So that Al could make his video "Fat" in the exact locations to mimic the original as closely as possible.
It is worth viewing.
"Michael Jackson loved Weird Al's parodies. To the point that he gave Al the locations where Michael's video for 'Bad' was filmed."
That's one sentence, not two. WORD CRIMES! (o:Þ
James Brown also provided a lot of help for "Living With A Hernia".
He provided Al with the actual dancers from Brown's video as well as actual dance instruction to match the dance moves.
Well kinda right. The "Bad" location was the one they used for the kid's version for Moonwalker. (Al mentioned how the set was a bit smaller than the actual location)
You must do 'Living with a Hernia'
Absolutely, but they have to do the original by James Brown first.
If he's ever performing live in your area, make sure you go see him. He puts on an incredible show. And the audience is just as fun.
My favorite easter egg in his video is at 3:23 when the music video is flipping through the "A"s, and it pauses ever so slightly to spotlight an early photo of Al holding his signature instrument under the entry for "Accordion".
Also excited as heck - finally gonna get to see the man in concert in Boston this summer with my grandson.
😁😂🤣;p
EDIT:
Request: 'Trapped In The Drive-true' --> hopefully you both have seen the original clips 'Trapped in the Closet' by Kelly or the song/video spoof might 'fly over your head' but it still showcases Al's vocal range and humour when it comes to 'couple' relationships.
This might be my absolute favorite Weird Al song, and I have been a fan since I first thought "WTF?" and then laughed hearing his first song "Another One Rides The Bus" based on Queen's 1980 song "Another One Bites The Dust". I got to hear it when a buddy of mine brought back this weird four song comedy album he'd been given as a joke gift by a cousin while visiting family in California the summer of 1981. I bet he wishes he still had the album now, as there weren't that many made and it's near priceless.
It doesn't matter what Weird Al song you do next as even the ones I'm not that fond of are still good. 😀Amish Paradise and the Fat/Eat it duo were probably the others in my top three until White and Nerdy hit. 😀
One of his most underrated songs is Hardware Store .... not really a remake of another artist's song, but rather quite impressive when he gets to rapping names of hardware and tools near the end of the song ..... his pace is mind blowing
This is one of my favorite WAY songs....Gotta check out "Germs" ...another classic.
Got to do "Trapped in the drive thru". Amazing story-telling 😉🤣
I have been a fan of Al since the early 70's when he was only on Dr. Demento radio show and there was no MTV. He inspired a lot of us to do similar covers but not nearly as well.
The guy here has an amazing voice for radio broadcasting.
He reminds me of Harry Shearer.
My aunt is a retired professor of English and this song makes her laugh. Weird Al knows how to educate and entertain.
IDK when he'll tour again, but he does these songs live on stage. In the fat costume even. He's definitely a true musician. I friend of mine saw him 3 different times.
I actually write with the letters & numbers shorthand when texting a younger cousin because our texts can get long enough it will say I ran out of room. However with everyone else I typically watch my grammar & spelling. 😂 I don't care if someone uses it with me in casual notes or texts, but I totally back Weird Al's point that too many people these days aren't learning the basics correctly. It's understandable if someone has a learning disability, but most seem to have not put in the effort to pay attention in school.
this is GREAT!!! i lOVE THIS parody... :)
Cunning linguist gets me every time😂
I know!!! Nobody ever mentions it. It always makes me think of the SNL skit, " Colonel Angus Comes Home".
Done first in James Bond movies, but yeah, it’s a good hidden line.
"Who's going to stop me" is one of my favorites of his that he was featured on that isn't a parody or comedic song
"ALbuquerque" is still my favorite .... < the one with the cartoon video (which was fan made, but AL liked it so much, it became the official one).
😂😂😂😂 This is actually my fave of his.
12:20 Great to see this one again. The next you should checkout is "First World Problems".
My wife is a reading teacher, and loves to play this for a class at appropriate times...
Word crimes is one of my favorites. Trapped in the drive thru is really good. Bob is a fun play on Bob Dylan. Gotta check those out.
One of the greatest lyricist ever.
9:12 The weather drawing is a reference to Alanis Morissette's lyric "It's like rain on your wedding day" from the song "Ironic".
The only actual irony involved in that song is in a song constantly asking "Isn't it ironic", nothing in that song is ironic. Sad, frustrating, or unfortunate, but not Ironic.
@@OriginalLictrea song called ironic written by a woman that doesn’t know what irony is, is actually pretty ironic lol
@ Unless the woman did it on purpose b/c that is ironic.
@@jp3813she didnt
@@OriginalLictrecoincidence
One of my favorites!
I hope you do Foil and Handy next. Love the channel.
My daughters know every word of this. It’s really fantastic.
I love “Word Crimes”. ❤
The saga begins is a great one to do.
I love that he gave Prince the okay to write with numbers, Prince is an exception to all rules.
Foil and Tacky should be your next Ai adventure . Tacky has so many celebrity friends/ fans of his . Love this song . I've heard that in his concerts he actually changes into costumes from his videos . I would love to see him live .
He is so amazing live!
Greetings Sam and Phil
yes, most of those express in the video can be seen as "word crimes" if used in a more mature or professional environment. However, most (not all) of the time, it is about brevity of disseminating a message (usually in text or quick IM to a friend or relative). In THAT context, it should be 'overlooked' because it becomes a sub-lexicon / specific slang, mainly used by the younger generations.
This has been the process for centuries. It was true in the 60's, 70s (with the hippie gen), 80's and 90's (with the skater and gen Xer's) and it has continued in toe 00's, 10's, 20's, and it will continue in the 30's, 40's, and so on. There is also a sub-slang in the surfing, rock climbing, hip hop, and gamer communities. Can anyone remember 'pig Latin' and "double speak'.
People should 'chill out' sometimes and NOT be so language "Karen purists" all the time. Have patience and flexibility. Learn to have some fun and 'secrecy' with language. It can actually develop more neuro pathways like learning a new language.
Easily my favorite thing he has done!
I recently discover his video "Foil" .. love it.
OK to clarify some of the language trends 1. substituting numbers for letters is form of writing call L33t (read as elite) speak a very nerdy thing to do. The origins or message compression is from the days when cell phones came with screens and you could send texts / SMS (Short Message Service) which had a maximum length of 160 characters and were charged for each message sent. So short hand evolved to compress the message into as few character possible so B C R U where now used as almost a homophone where sound represented the word . This passed onto next generations to use in their messaging services I remember when MSN Messenger was King, then Skype took over, but this message shorthand just became part of the language when communicating.
My suggestion for the next visit to Al's catalog is either Tacky, Handy, or Yoda
Hardly anyone seems to remember Yoda! But it was always one of my favorites, along with One More Minute.
This is from his last album. He doesnt seem to want to do anymore. But released a polka (as is tradition on his albums) to cover songs from the last 10 years.
His contract was for 14
This video is done in thr style of the shortform psas done in the 1970's called "Schoolhouse Rock". They played with children's tv, especially Saturday morning cartoons in the U.S. The head of the network wanted to educate kids in a fun way. Do a youtube search, and watch some.
The MJ parodies are spot on. My favorite of all time is "like a surgeon"! I lost on jeopardy is an early glimpse into Al's mind.
"All About the Pentiums"
"Living With a Hernia"
"The Saga Begins"
"Foil"
"Tacky"
'I lost on Jeopardy', "Like a Surgeon', 'Another One Rides the Bus' (Al's earliest), 'Jurassic Park', 'I Bought It on Ebay'. Just to name a few more they need to touch.
I think another good one to check out is a slightly different style from Al, his 'sound alike' songs which are not direct parodies but are tracks done in the style of a particular group or artist, my selection from these would be Dare to Be Stupid which is done in the style of Devo and was described by the lead singer of Devo as being "The best Devo song, that Devo never sang"...
And "I'll Sue Ya," made after the style of RATM.
Or the DooWap "One More Minute".
Said it was more Devo than Devo.
CNR (Charles Nelson Riley) done in the style of the White Stripes
Another humorous artist you may like is Ray Stevens. There is a big difference in their styles. Weird Al takes a popular song, corrupts the title, then writes humorous lyrics to the music that fit the new title. Stevens writes original music and puts a humorous anecdote to the music. His songs are typically not funny in the first verse because that is the set up. The remaining verses and the chorus are hilarious. Although the anecdotes are probably not true, they at least sound like they could be plausible. Some of his songs are, "The Mississippi Squirrel Revival," about a squirrel that runs amok during a church service. The havoc it causes is misinterpreted by the congregation as the Holy Spirit. Another song is "Sitting Up with the Dead,": about the time between a person passing away and their burial in a very rural area.
Al has plenty of original songs, too. Examples include: One More Minute, You Don't Love Me Anymore, Dare to be Stupid, Melanie, and Hardware Store. About half of the songs on each of his 14 studio albums are original songs.
Oh they have to touch 'Mississipii Squirrel', 'The Streak', and 'It's Me Again, Margaret' by Ray. Not to mention is Grammy winning 'Everyone is Beautiful'.
@mustangdebbie56 that is true, but he is known for his parodies. If one if his original songs became a hit. a large percentage of listeners did he scratching their heads trying to figure out which song he was parodying.
@richwelling3409 Sure. But there were plenty of fans who assumed songs like Jurrasic Park and I Lost on Jeopardy were original songs because they were unfamiliar with McArthur Park and the Greg Kihn Band's song Jeopardy. If you ask fans who actually bought his albums, most of them will name his original songs as favorites. In his last tour, the main setlist was only his original songs. His upcoming tour will be back to a mix of popular parodies and a few originals.
Don’t forget Ray Stevens also did the theme songs of the Cannonball Run movies and those were pretty mainstream. I think they/it might’ve even been on the Billboard charts.
Texting using abbreviations or acronyms is one thing, but I have seen them used in college essays!
Thanks for the video. I enjoyed it.
Just to be clear, Mandatory Fun was not the FIRST album to hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100, but it WAS the first to do so in over 50 years. The previous album to do so was Allan Sherman's My Son the Nut in 1963.
First time coming across your content, immediate like and subscribe. Don't know if you concentrate on songs, comedy, or what, but have a couple of English suggestions.
Mitch Benn - Imagine you were mine. I first saw Mitch live at an event and immediately fell in love with his irreverent humour.
Morecambe and wise - stripper breakfast where they make a full English breakfast to 'that' music.
The Barron Knights - Masochistic And Sadistic Hospital song where they make fun of the UK health services to the tune of the theme from "M.A.S.H.".
Sorry if you have done any of these before.
Weird Al has been doing his parody since 1979.
Actually Al had his first song played on Dr. Demento in 1976 when Al was just 16. Al had gone to see Dr. Demento and gave him a demo tape containing a mix of parodies and originals. The 1st song, Belvedere Cruising, intrigued Demento and he played it on his show. He got his first record deal in 79 when he recorded My Bologna
I don't care what people say, the Oxford comma makes sense, is smart, and looks cool, so I use it.
6:45 *I've heard that school teachers sometimes see those letters instead of words in written reports. The kids don't see them.*
The mandatory fun album was Al's last album. He is sort of semi-retired now though he won't admit it 😂 he released 8 music videos from this album, and each one is spectacular. Tacky, Handy, first world problems, Foil, Mission Statement, Lame Claim to Fame, and Word Crimes.
I agree. This album is all great and Tacky has a lot of celebrity guests acting in the video. Mission Statement is a CSN style song similar to Suite Judy Blue Eyes, I believe.
This is one of the songs that makes you realize Al is genius. This is in my top 3 along with Tacky and Foil.. White and Nerdy may be 4th, but it has a lot of competition.
NO ACRONYMS! GFD! Had to here, because UA-cam don't
care for cuss words. Great song.
I've been guilty of these at times as I have
dyslexia. But I try to write and use grammar
properly. Weird Al always asked permission from
the artists and as a result the man is well respected.
Try Ode to A Superhero a Parody of Billy Joel's
Piano Man.
Lots of visual jokes people tend to miss.
Worth it to go back over it slowly.
"Eat It", "Fat" and "Like a Surgeon"...! Any true Weird Al lovers must watch.!
Got to go with three classics for me. Albuquerque, Close but No Cigar, and Everything You Know Is Wrong.
The Kinetic Typography trend was probably just past its peak when this video came out; it had been building in popularity on UA-cam for a while, by then. At the time, everyone was doing their own Kinetic Typography rendition of V's introduction, from V for Vendetta.
I guess the lesson from weird Al is that you can Dare to Be Stupid, just make sure to do it in a grammatically correct fashion.
(Let's see if YT eats my comment again...)
Al is in the video: in the beginning, at the dictionary flipping pages, and on one page at the word "accordion" there is a picture of Al with an accordion...
6:20 "...for you and me," not "for you and I." The object of the prepositional phrase is objective even when plural.
weird al has been around since the 1970's when he first appeared on the dr demento radio show.
My favorite songs by him is (1) Tacky ( from the song Im Happy )( 2) Preform thus way ( making fun of lady gaga i was born this way ) (3) I'm so handy ( from Iggy Azaela I'm so fancy). Give these a try and I can give a few more. Love you guys channel
I love his creativity. I'm new to your page, so not sure what videos by him you have seen so far. His song One More Minute cracks me up. I love doo wop songs and this song is done in that style. This song isn't a parody of someone else's song. It's an original that he wrote.
Some of my pet peeves are when I see comments online and people use the word "casted" as past tense for cast. Instead of, you know, *cast* .
"I'm so glad (that actress) got casted for that role." Or, they'd probably spell out "roll."🙄
Or when people type out "per say" instead of "per se."
Others have already been mentioned by other commenters. Commenters -- is that a word?😉
U r gr8 guys😂
The first known use, as far as I remember from "Adam Ruins Everything", of "literally" used in place of "figuratively" was Dickens and other fellow writers. So, if even the writers who defined what we consider modern English (as opposed to creating it like Shakespeare) used it "improperly" I think we can excuse it.
'Foil' is amazing! it's a parody of Lorde's 'Royals' lol
"born this way" and "tacky" I'd love y'all would take on!
I love Weird Al, my brother meet him in downtown Phoenix, he asked for directions and my brother who is PPD gave him directions and Weird Al was very pleasant to everyone. I also Live the word crimes video, but I do dislike the fact that I could be texting someone about the working conditions of cobalt mines in Africa, and they point out my word crime, and I’m like could please address the issue, not my grammar. My grammar doesn’t change what is going on in Ghana…