It’s my understanding that anyone can release their own version of a song without permission. They just have to pay a fee to the composer of the music and the writer of the lyrics. I believe it’s called compulsory licensing.

Compulsory licensing only applies to versions with changes in musical arrangement, not to changes in the lyrics as significant as Yankovic’s (were it not parody) where the “fundamental character” differs greatly.

My, my. This-here Anakin guy
May be Vader some day later
Now he’s just a small fry
He left his home, and kissed his mommy goodbye
Singin’ “Soon I’m gonna be a Jedi.”.

She would be Lady Yankovic.

I double-dare her.

If Lady Gaga, whose music I’m almost totally unfamiliar with, was involved in the initial rejection of the parody, possibly it had something to do with the content of the original? I had to look the lyrics up; they appear to be, as most of you probably know, about tolerance and self-love of identities rooted in the facts of our births: nationalities, ethnicities, orientations, disabilities. As opposed to, as is often claimed by the bigoted particularly in the case of transgender and sexual orientations other than hetero, the charge that it is a choice, and a condemnable defective choice of which to be ashamed.

Weird Al’s song is not about the innate, but the performative: about a choice, and a choice of an identity that is crazy, and would be certifiably insane if innate. And whereas Lady Gaga’s song is about celebrating her identity, and encouraging her audience to do the same with respect to themselves, Weird Al’s is about mocking Lady Gaga’s performative identity (and to some extent perhaps her real identity) and perhaps encouraging his audience to do the same.

I’m not saying Weird Al is bigoted; I doubt very much whether he is or could be. I love the guy and his music in general. Clearly he’s a guy who accepts and embraces eccentricities. I doubt whether he is criticizing Lady Gaga’s performance style, even though the lyrics give that appearance if taken literally. Nevertheless, I think he made a misstep here and came up with a parody that unfortunately inadvertently treads near bigotry, even if it managed to keep off the jackboots. If he wanted to use a Lady Gaga song to make fun of Lady Gaga, he should have picked a less personal song.

That he released this song for free with a note that the proceeds would have gone to HRC if approved for sale was really very tacky. I hope he reconsiders including the song on the album, and would consider making a donation of his own to HRC unconnected to any licensing deal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTTVkh6NX50&feature=related – Puffy

Note, that’s the original version.
Here’s the rock remix that Puffy did:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qOU5YwiIsg

And that’s what Al did the parody of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpMvS1Q1sos

My complaint was that Weird Al’s lyrics taken in the context of the original song’s lyrics, and the original song in the context of what it was responding to: born/choice arguments and intolerance, made that song a poor choice to parody, and made that song a poor choice to parody the particular way he did. I doubt if I would have given the matter any thought had the issue of the initial lack of approval for the parody not come up, which is what prompted me to look up the original and to think about what might have been problematic about the parody. *Inadvertently* problematic, as I originally stated.

I think I described why it was a poor choice, but you and Jere7my clearly disagree. And Lady Gaga in the end either wasn’t offended, or didn’t want to make a bigger issue about it after Weird Al publicly gave her a hard time. We do perhaps at least agree that Weird Al probably didn’t put a lot of thought into this parody.

The song alone does not in any way diminish my appreciation for Weird Al. I’ve enjoyed his work since the early 80s. However, his handling of the rejection as well as the text that opens and closes the video does somewhat. I’ll keep listening, though.

There was a similar kerfuffle a couple years back about the word “picnic” when some people started spreading a false rumor that the term’s etymology originated from a community lynching event called “pick a n*****.”

http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/gaga-update/

We do not. For someone who jumps around like an idiot on-stage, Weird Al is an incredibly smart and thoughtful guy. He’s also a detail-oriented perfectionist. I’m sure he puts a lot of thought into all his songs, even Gotta Boogie.

Al’s music frequently layers surprising depth and subtle satire beneath the corny jokes. I would not be surprised to learn he was commenting on the awkward way Born This Way equates the weirdness of Lady Gaga’s stage persona, which she can put on and take off at will, to differences of race, sexuality, and class, which people are born with. That’s the (possible) message of the song, as I see it: “Gaga, you weren’t born this way; you perform this way.” He’s not taking a side on the sexuality nature/nurture argument; he’s saying Gaga’s weird outfits are a choice, and she shouldn’t equate them to the inescapable problems faced by people who are born not conforming to the norm.

I would also not be surprised if none of that had occurred to Al, and he just liked thinking up goofy costumes. But the guy is a deep thinker.

Prince has the distinction of refusing Al numerous times.

According to Al’s blog, Gaga never heard about this until after he posted the song on Youtube. Apparently, her manager made the decision without telling her, and she was more than happy to say yes once she was actually made aware of the song.

Yeah, but why let a little factual statement like that from Weird Al himself get in the way of what you really want to suggest, which is that Gaga made unreasonable demands and withheld consent from something that didn’t actually require her consent, and that she only stepped back because of the PR shit-storm.

One thing that Cory pointedly avoids mentioning is that the track was only released as a free download because Gaga withheld her consent. Given Weird Al’s history of only commercially releasing tracks that have the support of the original artist, Weird Al’s legal team apparently believes that the Fair Use may well not apply to commercial exploitation of his “parodies” (commercial exploitation does generally cut against fair use). Weird Al originally planned to release the remake commercially (though with profits donated to a gay-rights charity), and only changed the release to a free download (with donations encouraged) after consent was withheld by Gaga’s manager.

Are we going to get a revised headline for the post now?

Prediction: Bigger sales than “Dare to Be Stupid.” Gaga and Al profit. The machine is fed.

And scene.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27re_Pitiful

A really high-energy show, with tonnes of costume changes (including the famous ‘Fat’ suit) and the band gave 110%

If Weird Al is touring near you, I totally recommend seeing his show. I was really impressed.

@ Metaphorge – I’d be sure we’ll get at least an update. Corey is usually pretty reasonable about this sorta stuff, as are most of the rest of the BoingBoing crew, it seems.