The parody is the cover’s evil twin. While a good cover keeps the lyrics and changes the music, a parody does the exact opposite. As such, much of what “Weird Al” Yankovic does falls outside this blog’s purview (though covers of Weird Al songs are always popular). His polkas, however, fall strictly in the cover camp. On every album he creates a medley of popular hits set to polka tunes. The lyrics stay intact, the music goes oompah-oompah. Sounds like a cover to me!
He has been opening the shows on his latest tour with a brand-new polka featuring Justin Bieber, Ke$ha, Kid Cudi and more. It will presumably appear on his next album as a track titled “Polkaface.” The bummer flipside is that any song included in a polka is now off the table for parody, but you can count on another Lady Gaga song getting the Al treatment.
The songs that get polka-ed are, in order: Poker Face (Lady Gaga), Womanizer (Britney Spears), Right Round (Flo Rida), Day ‘n’ Nite (Kid Cudi), Need You Now (Lady Antebellum), Baby (Justin Bieber), So What (Pink), I Kissed a Girl (Katy Perry), Fireflies (Owl City), Blame It (Jamie Foxx ft. T-Pain), Replay (Iyaz), Down (Jay Sean ft. Lil Wayne), Break Your Heart (Taio Cruz ft. Ludacris), Tik Tok (Ke$ha), Poker Face (reprise).
Check out more Weird Al at his website.
“While a good cover keeps the lyrics and changes the music, a parody does the exact opposite.” — what a perceptive and succinct description! Thanks!
very good