Well written & hilarious songs (Running With Scissors - Weird Al Yankovic)

Member Name: defiler

Product:	Running With Scissors - Weird Al Yankovic
Date:	14/03/01 (148 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very funny, both original songs and parodies contained, wide range of styles employed so theres something for everyone.

Disadvantages: After listened to a while the songs just aren't as funny as they used to be, however some will still make you smile.

While not "Weird Al" Yankovic's best album, this definetely has some extremely funny moments in it. Containing a mixture of great parodies plus original comedy songs this album is great to listen to and will make you laugh quite a few times during its hearing.

Apparently the planning for this album took place when Al learned about the making of Star Wars Episode 1, knowing this would be a big event, whether popular or not, he thought this would be a good time to release a new album including in it some kind of song referencing the film. The song was apparently finished 6 weeks before the film was actually released (throught the help of the internet), with only 2 or 3 minor points needing to be changed afterwards.

Of course the wait to know if he had permission to use the song (he always get permissions for his parodies, even though this isn't really required) was a slight worry seeing as he had the rest of the album already planned out and having someone say "no" at this stage wouldn't have been good. Luckily it was approved and the official star wars website even had a link to Al's "The Saga Begins" movie site, normally the official site rarely gives links to outside works.

"The Saga Begins" - Great start to an album, a parody of American Pie (by Don Mclean) with the words telling the story of Episode 1. The great thing about this song is that it really works, you get to hear almost the entire plot of the movie in just over 5 minutes and listen to a good song at the same time. The video to accompany this song (have a look on a site such as launch.com) is not one of my favourites, but still funny and well worth watching.
"My Baby's In Love With Eddie Vedder" - A good original song by Al, probably one of my least favourite songs on the album but still good to listen to once or twice.
"Pretty Fly For A Rabbi" - A Jewish parody of "Pretty
Fly (For A White Guy) by The Offspring. This song is great, especially if you've heard the original song, the sound effects work great in providing a comic atmosphere to the song and it's a wonderful pardoy.
"The Weird Al Show Theme" - Nothing amazing, but a nice short song that was taken from his short lived TV show.
"Jerry Springer" - A parody of "One Week" by Bare Naked Ladies (that's the band, not actual bare naked ladies). If you've ever watched Jerry Springer you will be far more likely to enjoy this song, including very unlikely topics (though believable if you've ever watched an episode of Jerry Springer) this song is hillarious throughout.
"Germs" - A style parody of Nine Inch Nails containing a complete deconstuction of the various styles used within songs. Personally I don't really know NIN that well and tend to skip this song more than others on the album but it's still worth a listen.
"Polka Power" - Every album by Al seems to contain at least 1 polka and this is no exception. I know people who hate these, but I really enjoy hearing him setting popular songs to a polka beat. It's great to hear him ruin songs you hate or simply laugh at what songs you like could have sounded like. This contains clips from the following songs: "Wannabe, Flagpole Sitta, Ghetto Superstar (That Is What You Are), Everybody (Backstreet's Back), Walkin' On The Sun, Intergalactic, Tubthumping, Ray Of Light, Push, Semi-Charmed Life, The Dope Show, Mmmbop, Sex and Candy, Closing Time & Way Moby Polka (this was actually done by Al himself)".
"Your Horoscope For Today" - Very funny original song by Al, if all horoscopes were like this I feel that suicides would increase quite a bit. However I really would like to see a horoscope filled with completely unlikely crazy things for a change.
"It's All About The Pentiums" -
Great parody of "It's All About The Benjamins" by Puff Daddy. This song is great, even if you don't listen to it as a parody, it's computer references are funny on their own and make a hillarious song. If you ever get to watch this video do so (try launch.com), it's easily one of the best videos he's ever done.
"Truck Drivin' Song" - With a kind of tribute to Monty Pythons lumberjack song in this song is another good original of Al's done with a country style. While nothing special it's worth a listen.
"Grapefruit Diet" - A parody of "Zoot Suit Riot" by the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. I admit that I'd never have guessed what this was a parody of myself & this is his worst parody on the album. Funny if you know the original song, however this is one song I tend to skip.
"Albuquerque" - This has to be the funniest (and longest) song on the album, a wonderful end and extremely weird song all about how great Alburqerque is. This song is extremely strange in places but really does make you laugh out loud in lots of places, well worth listening to even if you don't want to buy the entire album.

The reason the parodies work so well is that they seem extremely well written, the words seem to fit just as good as they did in the original song and while sometimes weird they are still fun.

One thing to try is to put this CD on when someone else is in another room of the house, then go into the room with them. If the music is audible in the background and it is someone who normally sings along to songs it's likely they will end up singing the original words not realising from this distance it's a parody. This is fun to do and also shows the strength of the band, they seem to be able to adapt to a huge variety of different musical styles and play them all extremely well.

Hidden on the CD is a video containing quite a good in
terview with Al. Even though it says nothing new and the comedy bits are a bit weak at times it is still well worth watching, but I doubt you'll watch it more than 1 or 2 times.

One other thing, if you like the parodies try listening to the original songs too. The parodies are usually done so well that they sound very similar to the originals. However it will ruin certain songs for you that you won't be able to get through without starting to laugh (much like Only Fools & Horses did to the song "Crying").

Of course this album does have is faults, just like any other. You will probably get sick of hearing certain songs on this album fairly quickly once the novalty has worn off. However some songs remain easily as listenable to as their parodies and while they won't be as funny after you've heard them a few times should still be able to make you smile now and then. Give this album a listen if you can, even if you don't buy it you should find something you like on it.

Summary: