JUNE 2011 ISSUE MMUSICMAG.COM JUNE 2011 ISSUE MMUSICMAG.COM Q&A

How do you construct a parody? thought I was a pretty good rapper, which is It’s unfortunate, but thankfully in the Lady When we do parodies we’re trying to pretty high praise coming from him. I don’t Gaga case it all got resolved very happily. make them sound as close as possible to know what to attribute it to. the original. That wasn’t always the case— How do you go about putting together when we started out we were just doing a You replicated his verbal flow a polka medley? rough approximation and would throw an throughout the song. In terms of song selection, I look at pop accordion on the song whether there was Attention to detail is a hallmark of what songs that I think would sound humorous one or not. (laughs) But now part of the gag I do. I try to match every syllable if I can done polka-style. A lot of the songs I use in is to suck people into thinking that they’re and make it as close as possible to the polka medleys are actually songs that I would listening to the original song. Then all of original. A large part of that is in the writing. have done parodies of had I been able to a sudden it’s, “Hey, these aren’t the right It’s important to have the same meter, the fi gure out a clever enough idea. (laughs) It’s lyrics, what’s going on here?” So we listen same cadence, the same infl ection, to make like the graveyard of parodies. Once we’ve on headphones, dissect every track and try it as close as possible. It’s the little things gotten permission to use the songs, I’ll sit to make it sound as close as possible to the that a lot of people perhaps wouldn’t even with my accordion and play around with original master recording. notice on a surface level. But they can them. I’ll try to fi gure out what song would tell that a lot of effort has been put into segue naturally into another song, or maybe How has that process changed? it and that it’s been carefully crafted to would be a jarring juxtaposition with another It’s hard to enumerate all of them, but emulate the source material. song. I piece it all together, arrange it, write one thing is that there’s not a whole lot up the horn parts and produce a demo. of conventional instruments in pop songs Is getting permission tough? anymore. For instance, for the Lady Gaga Whenever possible I try to contact an artist What are your goals now? thing we never set up a guitar amp; we never directly, but more often than not I don’t I’ve achieved pretty much every goal I ever set up drums. Everybody in the band came have that person’s home phone number. had. I would love to be able to continue doing into the studio with a DVD like, “Here’s the digital fi le, I recorded my part at home on the computer.” That’s the way pop music is going. It’s all synthesized on a computer.

How does that compare to creating a pastiche like “Craigslist”?

Robyn Von Swank Robyn Von That takes a lot more time. Producing the parodies is relatively simple, because there are no real creative choices to be made—we have the template. Doing a pastiche is also “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC harder than writing a straight original song, Rock’s favorite “pop-culture Cuisinart” is still mixing things up because not only does it have to be an original composition, it has to have the soul of a whole different artist. So I listen to that “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC IS IN ST. that Lady Gaga had denied him the right to funnyman was indeed backstage at the Family artist’s entire body of work. I make notes. I Charles, Mo.—at least, he thinks so. “I’m issue his “Born This Way” rewrite “Perform Arena in St. Charles for a concert later that try to fi gure out what the idiosyncrasies are, pretty sure I am,” he reports by phone. “They This Way.” The whole affair turned out to be evening and not the victim of a kidnapping what the subtle little things are that indicate took the bag off my head and here I was.” a miscommunication, and now that track attempt, we spoke with Yankovic, 51, about this is that particular artist’s composition. I He may prefer to open with a joke, but the opens Yankovic’s new Alpocalypse. The his reign as pop’s top court jester. try to incorporate all of those things while man born Alfred Matthew Yankovic takes the album plays to all his satirical strengths: I’m writing this original composition. I supply craft of skewering the music world just as There are straightforward parodies of other Is topicality part of your job? the band with a dozen or so examples of seriously today as he did when he fi rst burst recent hits (Taylor Swift’s “You Belong Yeah. I’ve referred to my brain as a pop- the artist’s work that are representative of onto the scene in the early 1980s. Written With Me” becomes the paparazzi send-up culture Cuisinart. I need to feed it constantly the style. I’m giving them a demo of my off as a novelty act when he fi rst shot to fame “TMZ”); painstaking original pastiches of and always be aware of what’s happening original song, but I also want them to be On Late Night With

Ira James/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank Jimmy Fallon, June 2011 rendering Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” as “Eat particular artists or genres (the Doors-esque in the world, be aware of what’s happening thinking of that artist while they’re adding It,” the Lynwood, Calif., native’s career as a “Craigslist,” featuring that band’s keyboardist with music and TV and fi lms—which is their own personal touches to it. There’s a pop parodist has proven far more durable Ray Manzarek); gut-busting originals; and something I do anyway, because I’m a big whole lot more effort that goes into one of (laughs) That’s not always ‘Ninety-nine percent than those of many of his targets. a medley of pop favorites (“Polka Face”) fan of pop culture. But it’s more important for those kind of songs than something I made an option. It’s usually a case Yankovic has always sought an artist’s rendered in polka fashion by Yankovic, who me, because it’s also what I do for a living. from scratch. It’s a labor of love. of my manager talking to of the time the artist permission before releasing a parody, and has been rocking out on accordion since I have to be able to comment on things that their manager. Truthfully, 99 looks at it as a badge made news recently when he announced age 6. Having established that the musical are happening in the zeitgeist. How did you adapt to parodying rap? percent of the time it works I didn’t go to school or anything for it. out just fi ne, the artist signs of honor.’ (laughs) I’m pretty shameless, so I just off on it and looks at it as a gave it my best shot. I’ve gotten a lot of badge of honor. But every what I do, because I love this gig. I still love ‘Part of the gag is to suck people into thinking that good compliments. When I did “White & now and then somebody will stand in the performing live, I still love recording songs. they’re listening to the original song.’ Nerdy” [2006], Chamillionaire himself [who way and block access to the artist. That’s I’d like to keep doing it bigger and better. performed the original, “Ridin’”] told me he just something that I’ve had to deal with. –Chris Neal

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