#10 – “Like a Surgeon” (1985)
Despite being inundated with them, “Weird Al” never takes anyone else’s idea for a song parody. Each and every one is dreamed up by the comedian himself. There is one exception, however. Speaking to a friend of Al’s manager, Madonna wondered when he was going to turn “Like a Virgin” into “Like a Surgeon.” That musing made its was to Al and the rest is history. Narrated by a third-rate physician, this song takes an otherwise horrifying premise and hilariously turns it into just what the doctor ordered.
Best Line:
It’s a fact — I’m a quack
The disgrace of the A.M.A.
‘Cause my patients die, yeah my patients die
Before they can pay
#9 – “Tacky” (2014)
We didn’t think you could get much more jubilant than Pharrell Williams’ infectious hit “Happy.” Well, “Weird Al” may have done it. “Tacky” is a joyful itemization of all the questionable things the song’s narrator dresses in or does proudly. He wears this deliberate shamelessness as a badge of honor and the parody is a celebration of the happiness it brings to him. Though some of the references are a bit over the top, where “Tacky” hits the mark the most is in our realization that we all know at least one person in our own lives who is capable of many of the indiscretions trumpeted within the lyrics.
Best Line:
I meet some chick, ask her this and that
Like ‘Are you pregnant girl, or just really fat?’ (what?)
Well, now I’m dropping names almost constantly
That’s what Kanye West keeps telling me, here’s why
#8 – “Another One Rides the Bus” (1981)
“Weird Al’s” performance of this song in 1981 on a late night talk show was his first televised appearance ever. Clutching his trademark accordion and backed up by a percussionist beating on its storage case while consecutively working whistles and horns, this was Al at his most manic and deranged. In other words, a star was born. Spoofing Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Bus” addresses the maddening realities of public commutation.
Best Line:
The window doesn’t open and the fan is broke, and my face is turnin’ blue
I haven’t been in a crowd like this since I went to see The Who
#7 – “Yoda” (1985)
“Weird Al” would later make waves with “The Saga Begins,” his ode to the “Phantom Menace,” but like all true analyses of “Star Wars,” it’s all about “The Empire Strikes Back.” For as a parody, “Yoda” is also a crown jewel. Riffing off of The Kinks’ singular “Lola,” with young Skywalker as the narrator, “Yoda” tells the story of his awe and bewilderment for the little green Jedi. With simple but grandly illustrative detail, Al recounts one of film’s all time greatest teacher/student relationships hilariously. You’ll find its best line below, but we must mention Luke’s lyrical commentary — But I know that I’ll be coming back some day/I’ll be playing this part ’till I’m old and gray/The long-term contract I had to sign/Says I’ll be making these movies ’till the end of time — for it’s galactic prescience.
Best Line:
I know Darth Vader’s really got you annoyed
But remember, if you kill him, then you’ll be unemployed
#6 – “Eat It” (1984)
This was a huge hit at the beginning of “Weird Al’s” career and the parody that made him a household name. Its music video, a shot-by-shot shot remake of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” peppered with uproarious visual gags, was a truly defining moment in ’80s popular culture. Al admits the concept isn’t the cleverest — an admonishment to a poorly-mannered picky eater — but the similarly sounding titles dictated the course of the song. Legally, Al doesn’t need permission from the artists of the songs he parodies, but he chooses to get them anyway, and Jackson’s was both a surprise and a coup. From then on it would be hard for other musicians to justifiably decline his requests for parody when they knew that the King of Pop had graciously given his.
Best Line:
How come you’re always such a fussy young man
Don’t want no Captain Crunch, don’t want to Raisin Bran
Well, don’t you know that other kids are starving in Japan
#5 – “White & Nerdy” (2006)
We are living in a time of great racial division and it seems like forces are working hard to keep this separation alive. “Weird Al” bravely lamented what it’s like for the majority to be refused acceptance into other populations because of preconceptions that run along color lines in his intrepid “White & Nerdy.” Based on Chamillionaire’s rap favorite, “Ridin’,” “Nerdy” tackles racial injustice but from the point of view of a tragically unhip Causcasian who courts camaraderie with the brothers only to be shunned because they’re so freaked out by his undeniable lameness. Didn’t Fred Durst have the same problem?
Best Line:
First in my class here at M.I.T.
Got skills, I’m a champion at D&D
MC Escher that’s my favorite MC
Keep your 40
I’ll just have an Earl Gray tea
#4 – “Word Crimes” (2014)
With the success of Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” came a litany of parodies, all upping the original’s misogynistic ante. “Weird Al” knew this radio staple was made for his own brand of skewering with a subject matter that would come out of left field instead. Behold “Word Crimes,” a joyful lecture on the need for proper grammar, syntax and semantics particularly in our brave new online world. The 21st century’s answer to “Schoolhouse Rock,” this broad plea for understanding and adhering to our rules of language is hysterical to all, but mostly those to whom all are held sacred, down to the very last apostrophe placement.
Best Line:
And listen up when I tell you this
I hope you never use quotation marks for emphasis
You finished second grade
I hope you can tell
If you’re doing good or doing well
#3 – “Smells Like Nirvana” (1992)
This was a comeback song for “Weird Al,” whose career had stalled after the box office failure of his movie “UHF” and other musical setbacks. Al doggedly pursued Nirvana for their permission to parody their genre-defining chart topper to no avail until he tracked them down at “Saturday Night Live.” During that phone conversation between him and Kurt Cobain, Al explained when asked by the rocker that no, the parody would not be about food, but how hard it was for people to understand the words to “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” To which, after approving the parody, Cobain replied, “Oh sure, of course, that’s funny.” The outright success of “Smells Like Nirvana” was not only a gift for “Weird Al” Yankovic but an unmistakable sign to the boys of Nirvana that they had indeed made it.
Best Line:
It’s unintelligible
I just can’t get it through my skull
It’s hard to bargle nawdle zouss
With all these marble in my mouth
#2 – “Amish Paradise” (1996)
Hollywood has provided glimpses into their culture to varying degrees, but popular music had been curiously slow to showcase the mystique of the Amish. “Weird Al” changed all that with his parody of Coolio’s hip-hop anthem “Gangsta’s Paradise.” Finally, accounts of butter churning, barn raising and no-holds-barred quilting busted their way onto the radio airwaves. Coolio was at first very unhappy with the version, believing it tarnished his original’s good name, setting up what seemed to be the makings of another East Coast/West Coast feud the genre is famous for. Recently, however Al revealed that the rapper’s feeling have changed and he and Coolio are now, well, cool.
#1 – “Fat” (1988)
The antonymic companion to “Weird Al’s” first huge hit, here we have another Michael Jackson parody, this time for his mega-sensation “Bad.” Where “Eat It” revolves around an undereater, the narrator to “Fat” is an admitted oversized being spinning around a world of gluttony. Faced-paced and ridiculous with glorious goofs on Jackson’s wordless howls and the track’s curious sound effects, the song reveals the obvious love Al has for his source material, as do all the entries on this list. But “Fat” contains the grandest belly laughs and therefore is the greatest “Weird Al” Yankovic parody of all time.
Best Line:
