Weird Al Yankovic is an absolute legend.
I don’t think there are too many people who will argue otherwise.
But, fine: Here’s an artist who’s made a decade-after-decade career out of making us laugh with parody songs and originals that mock genres perfectly. It’s not an easy feat, especially when comedy has changed drastically since the 1980s.
With Weird: The Al Yankovic Story coming to the Roku Channel on Friday — itself a sendup of music biopics, which I can’t wait for — I thought it was a great time to rank his best parody songs. That means none of his originals (sadly, that means I can’t spend 1,000 words waxing on the genius of Bob, a take on Bob Dylan’s Subterranean Homesick Blues that’s made up entirely of palindromes), but maybe we’ll do that another time.
So here they are: The definitive rankings of Weird Al’s 20 best songs.
20
Jurassic Park
MacArthur Park is, itself, a bizarre song about a cake being left out in the rain — seriously — and never having the recipe again.
So for Yankovic to take that and adapt it to focus on Jurassic Park is hysterical. Bonus: It might be his greatest vocal performance ever, too.
19
I Want a New Duck
You’ll see that I chose a bunch of really, truly SILLY songs on here. This is one that parodies I Want a New Drug and just … goes there. And I giggle every time.
18
(This Song's Just) Six Words Long
I love George Harrison’s cover of Got My Mind Set on You, and this is — again — simple but effective … and kind of biting cynicism from Al!
17
My Bologna
Going from My Sharona to My Bologna isn’t a huge stretch, but when you remember we all usually pronounce it “bolo-knee,” you realize: This is too much.
16
Theme from Rocky XIII (The Rye or the Kaiser)
I will sing the chorus anytime I hear The Eye of the Tiger. Of Yankovic’s food songs, not his strongest, but definitely a top-20 cut.
(That wasn’t supposed to be a pun, but now it is.)
15
Confessions Part III
I love his songs that list stuff like this. Taking Usher’s instant classic and throwing on a list of things he’s confessing from throwing up on the listener’s dog to mistaking the listener’s name is so good.
14
Like a Surgeon
I think I’m biased because I actually heard this BEFORE I heard Madonna’s Like a Virgin, and I was really young … but I cackled (especially at every high-pitched “HEY!”) then and I still do.
13
Yoda
From Lola to a song about Yoda. It fits almost TOO well.
12
Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies
Apologies for repeating myself, but it fits so well, as if this mashup was meant to happen from the start. Bonus: The video is also a terrific spoof of its own.
11
Bedrock Anthem
Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Flintstones. Absolutely.
10
All About the Pentiums
I always loved Weird Al rapping, as you’ll see.
9
I Lost on Jeopardy
Jeopardy by Greg Kihn Band was always kind of a weird song, so simply converting it over to tune about the game show seems obvious. But the song is hilarious.
8
Another One Rides the Bus
Just watch the first Weird Al TV appearance on Tom Snyder’s show. You’re riveted, aren’t you? He’s got Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz smacking his accordion case and playing all kinds of sounds.
The lyrics to the Queen parody are a sign of the brilliance to come, all about the anxiety-provoking madness of riding a bus. Top 10 without a doubt.
7
Word Crimes
A song that teaches you grammar lessons? Sign me up!
6
The Saga Begins
There are certain Weird Al feats of parody that I am in awe of. Taking on American Pie with a whole thing about The Phantom Menace is one of them, and check this out from an interview on TheForce.net:
The song was entirely based on Internet “rumors.” I gathered all the leaked info I could about the movie from all the various Star Wars websites (TheForce.net was particularly helpful), and was able to piece together the basic plot of the movie. We had planned to release my “Running With Scissors” album the month after “Phantom Menace” came out. But because of the lead time involved in recording, mixing, pressing, and physically getting an album out in the stores, I had to write “The Saga Begins” about two months before the movie came out. The folks at Lucasfilm have always been very friendly towards me, but they politely declined my requests for an advance screening or a peek at the script. Thankfully, the storyline according to the Internet followed the filmed storyline pretty accurately. Just for safety’s sake, we didn’t do the final mix on “The Saga Begins” until after I had seen the movie (I paid to go to the $500-a-ticket charity screening, so I could see the film a couple days before the rest of the world). I remember I changed a couple lines after seeing the movie – very minor tweaks. Like “He’s probably gonna marry her someday” was originally “I HEAR he’s gonna marry her someday,” because according to an Internet rumor, in one scene Anakin tells the Queen to her face that he’s going to marry her (which, as it turns out, wasn’t in the final cut – but everybody knows how the storyline is going to go anyway, right?)
I mean, WOW. But also: Don McLean’s original is LONG and WORDY! Amazing.
5
Fat
I am in no way advocating fat shaming. I am simply pointing out that this is a very funny Michael Jackson sendup.
The video is an all-timer, too. Yo, ding dong man. Ding dong. Ding dong, yo.
4
White and Nerdy
Weird. Al. Rapping.
3
Smells Like Nirvana
A rarity from Yankovic: Making fun of the original songwriters instead of turning into a song about anything else. And it’s fantastic, including the fact that it is hard to bargle nawdle zouss with all these marbles in my mouth.
And this is a nice memory of talking to Kurt Cobain to get his permission:
2
Eat It
I think one of my favorite moments in any Weird Al song is him taking Michael Jackson singing “Oh Lord!” in Beat It and turning it into “Oh lard!” Subtle, but it covers why this is just so perfect.
1
Amish Paradise
A little biased because the video — guest-starring The Brady Bunch star Florence Henderson — is so funny. But there’s also working in Gilligan’s Island into the song. Truly the pinnacle of his legendary career.
