New Weird Al Chock-full of Symbolism

Alpocalypse was released 06/21/2011

Every artist he parodies is either a pawn or handler.

I have been trying to take stills from the videos, to no avail. Apparently "prt sc" doesn't work for me, and most certainly right clicking is not working either.

I doubt I need to point any out as they're so obvious in this one!

He's singing about deceased actor Charles Nelson Reily, a comedic actor best known as a panelist from the 1970's Match Game show. Some of the lyrics include:

"Everyday he' make the host of Match Game give him a piggyback ride
Yeah, two hour piggyback ride, giddy up Gene

Ninja warrior, master of disguise "

Was he actually Gene's handler, disguised as a co-worker?

"He made sweet, sweet love to a manatee
Oh yeah
Oh yeah, that was something to see, I tell ya"

In Brice Taylor's book, Thanks For the Memories, she tells of being forced to engage in dolphin porn for Sylvester Stallone's sick satisfaction. Perhaps Al actually did observe CNR indulge in bizarre fetishes.

A lot of duality/mirrored imagery, I'm not sure what the meaning is behind the Native stuff.

SO MANY symbolic tattoos in this video, oh my goodness! So many blantly featuring the devil, death, he even has a zombie Ronald Reagan skating with Hello Kitty. (I told you zombies are real!) Dragons, dolphins...another reference to Presidential Models? Even a Colonel Sanders/chicken tattoo. I want to know what his obsession with the Colonel is about! He does a Buddhist meditation pose in one scene. Is it just me or does his tramp stamp resemble a pyramid?  And why does he have a tattoo with a man aiming a gun at cherubs? One features a checkerboard pattern with two sex kittens; one has 777 written on her. There is one eye floating in a background soon followed by the Tasmanian Devil aka Taz, crucified Jesus, and Che Guevara's disembodied head "running" away from the tat-man. 

It starts off with Yankovictims?? I can't help but be reminded of Ben's closing comments in my last post on Al "...he may be a monster, uhh...but he's the only Weird Al we've got. And we will leave you with one last memory of our time on the road with him. Every morning when he'd unlock the roadies room and let us out for breakfast and re-education..." There's more in the video that troubles me. Angel's Ass toilet paper, University of Al sweater (taking a jab at the course that disects his lyrics? Eric Dubay of the Atlantean Conspiracy details the truth behind the U.S education system), Yankovic of the Sea (what does Quagadougou Burkina Faso mean?), some of the boardgames he features are Moon Landing Denial, Freud, and Cbnhba-which looks like a badly spelled version of Canada. In the laundromat he wears a shirt with his name and the number 13 while giving a double-thumbs up. He tells his girlfriend she needs lipo while beauty queen Al flashes masonic hand signs, immediately followed by a Goku-Al making another hand sign while dollar bills fly from said hand. His girlfriend and her sister appear wearing black and purple stripes and skulls, the sister with purple hair. They also changed Supercuts to Stuporcuts. At "Wallmart" Weird Al appears on the tv screens with colourful checkerboards flashing behind him. There's also a recurring psuedo-Tinkerbell casting spells on his girlfriend. I could go on, but I feel I've said enough on this video. 

Some of the lyrics:

"Burn that microfilm buddy, will you,
I’d tell you why but then I’d have to kill you!

you need a quickie confession?
we'll start a waterboarding session!"

"Yeah, we’ve got our backups all over the world, from Kazakhstan to Bombay;
payin’ the bribes like yeah, pluggin’ the leaks like yeah;
interrogating the scum of the earth, we’ll break them by the break of day!"

"Need a country to stabilize?
look no further, we’re your guys!
we’ve got snazzy suits and ties,
and a better dental plan than the FBI!

Better put your hands up and get in the van,
or else you’ll get blown away!
stagin’ a coup like yeah,
brainwashin’ moles like yeah,
we only torture the folks we don’t like,
you’re probably going to be okay!"

The video for TMZ could have been better had it lined up with the lyrics. Lyrically, Al fully highlights many celebrity "meltdowns" over the last few years. I find it odd how he focuses predominantly on my girl Britney. (I don't care what anyone says, I empathize strongly with her.) The lyrics:

"You're sort of famous
a minor celebrity
and so it only makes sense
the world would be
obsessed with every
single thing you do

They're running 'round
with their camcorders in the night
they lurk impatienly
in hope that they just might
see something really embarrassing
you do

The bad hair day and sweat-stained t-shirts
that's the story that
they are gonna feature
with exclusive pics
of your flabby behind
you think you're all alone
but that's right when you'll find

A bunch of paparazzi
popping out of nowhere
cameras in your face
and then suddenly
you're on TMZ
you're on TMZ

Following you
when you're walking down the street
and asking stupid questions
while you're trying to eat
so you cover your face
thinking to yourself
"Hey, isn't this creepy?"

And they are there praying
you'll have a big meltdown
and take a mono-lethal car chase
through this whole town
they'll be there with you
when you're going to jail
first on the scene
for every wardrobe fail

You just picked up some transvestite
seconds later
it's up on the website
get a vegas wedding
a quickie divorce
and they'll be
sneaking in
snapping pictures, of course

And if they ever catch you
picking your nose
or storming down the street
in a drunken spree
you're on TMZ

Stalking you, just waiting by your front door
trailing you through
airport security
they were TMZ

they were TMZ

[We caught this oscar nominee picking up DOG POO!
Is that a baby back there?
I pronounce you guilty, of leaving the house while FAT!
Look Who's drinking COFFEE!
everything celebrities do is FASCINATING!]

Oh, let me tell you
it's getting to the point
where a famous person can't
even get a D.U.I
or go on a racist rant
those guys are all around
so you really shouldn't dare
go to every club in town
if you just lost your underwear

Seems that every single time
a star decides to shave her hair
or ram their car into a tree
they're on TMZ

If they catch you peeing in the bushes
later on, that night
well, I guarantee
you're on TMZ
you're on TMZ

you're on TMZ

Every single celebrity
knows they're gonna be

They're on TMZ"

I'm curious as to why he brought up Michael Richards, who co-starred in Weird Al's movie UHF. I suppose Al was "done" with Michael after the whole N-fiasco.

Sources:
http://www.spinner.ca/2009/08/04/weird-al-spoofs-white-stripes-in-c-n-r-video/

Weird Al part two: Everything You Know is Wrong

In a spot on Joyride Media, entitled Everything You Know is Wrong, (named after an original song on his 1996 album Bad Hair Day) Al, former roadies Ben Garret (whom you may recognize from Reno 911) and Tom Lennon, Jon "Bermuda" Shwartz (Al's drummer), Ruben Valtierra (pianist), Dr.Demento, and others shed some light, and sarcasm, on Al's career over the years. They do mention numerous times they're sticking to a script (who wrote it? Al?), yet they keep calling it "What the mainstream media doesn't want you to know". 

I did not type out the entire piece, though I did type out much of it.

On Himself:


Al: These days most artists really look at it as a-a..an achievement, of sorts, to get a "Weird Al" credit because it's a sign you've reached a certain plateau in your career. Y'know, it's the Third Stage of Success. You get Gold, platinum, and Weird Al. That's the highest honour you could possibly get!


The Accordian?:


Al: ...a door-to-door..uh, accordian school representative came to uh, our house when I was six-years-old and asked if the child of the house wanted to take lessons. And uh-at that early age my parents made that life-altering decision for me that I should, in fact, take accordian lessons.


On His Relationship with Dr.Demento:

Al: Because my mind is also a little warped uh...and demented, uh...on its own...m-mmy music tended to gravitate that way. I-I found a kindred spirit in Dr. Demento. I was a big fan of his show when I was growing up and I would listen uh, religiously every Sunday night. And that's where I was exposed to people like Spike Jones and Alan Sherman and Tom Lair and Frank Zappa and Shel Silverstein, people like that. And I thought "Wow! This is really cool!" and uh,..I would kinda do my own take on that and started sending in tapes to the Dr. Demento Show that I recorded in my bedroom. Uh, it wasn't anything that any other disc jockey in the world would have played, y'know Dr. Demento being who he is, he thought it was unique enough to give it airtime.

I need to look more into the artists he mentioned before I can comment, though I've heard dark rumours about most of them. I do know Frank's son, Dweezil, did some work on The Weird Al Show in 1996 or '97.

Dr. Demento: 1976 I got this cheap cassette in the mail from Alfred Yankovic, Lynwood, California and I put it on and heard a song called Belvedere Cruising, him and his accordian, and a few weeks later another tape came in the mail from him. A song called School Cafeteria. That was even better than the first one, but it was probably in '77 or '78 that I invited him to the station and he showed up in his best Sunday suit...shy, but very, very articulate, personable, and uh...number of further occassions, it was on one of those visits that Al sang a new song live on the air, and that turned out to be Another One Rides the Bus. 


Al: That night was the night I met my still drummer Jon "Bermuda" Schwarz. He happened to be another one of the people Dr. Demento had invited to the studio. Uh, he had done a cover version of a song called "Woodsy the Owl" [I may have gotten that wrong] uh, and uh, he told me he was a drummer so when it came time to perform the song I said "Hey Jon, y'know uh, why don'cha bang on my accordian case for percussion since you're this hotshot drummer?" So, y'know, he did and he did such a good job banging on my accordian case that I said "Hey, d'ya wanna be my drummer for the next 30 years?" and he said "Okay!"


Bermuda: After we finished playing Bus that night I said something like "You should have a band and I'll be your drummer." uh...but I don't think it was anything specific, like its just fun to play the song like that, and he was a nice, enthusiastic guy, and I could never have predicted there was a serious career in the future. Uh, but a little voice was saying "This is fun! Stick around!" and it was obviously the right place and time for us to meet.


Jim West: Well you know, I've played in a lot of bands so I wasn't really a stranger to, you know, being a stylistic chameleon.  I mean I've-it wasn't new to me, you know, in learning cover songs, y'know and when you're playing in bands often-times you're playing whatever current cover songs are, so it wasn't that unusual y'know. It was more exciting though, 'cause Al was adding his twist to it, which was pretty cool.

[clip plays of one of Al's polkas, featuring him singing "I'm a man/I'm a one-night stand/I'm a slave/I'm a little girl/when we make love together"]


On Michael Jackson

Al: Well starting out back in the day, uh, it was very difficult to get permission-um, actually it was difficult to get phone calls returned. Nobody wanted to deal with someone named "Weird Al" Yankovic. Um, but, um...after a couple albums..uh.. the tides starting turning. In fact I have to say Michael Jackson was a big reason why..uh..artsits tended to uh..give me approval ..uh.. after that. Because uh..you know, once Michael Jackson gave his blessing it was harder for everyone else to say "no", 'cause you know..."If, if it's okay with Michael Jackson...you know...I guess it's okay! You know, who-who am I to say that Weird Al can't do this if he's got Michael's seal of approval?" So I-I have to give Michael props on that because he really opened a  lot of doors for me.


On MTV

1981 logos

Al: I started about the same time that MTV did. This was waaay back in the days-I don't know if you remember this-this was back in the days when MTV played music videos. It was crraazy! They actually played music video-during, during, like, the day! Like, in fact, like all day long! 24 hours-it was such a concept...and what was cool about the early '80s ...your stuff didn't even have to be very good to make it on the air because they didn't have a big, you know...library of material to choose from. They didn't have a big back catalog in the early '80s so, y'know, my early stuff was really low-budget and, y'know not that great frankly, but they'd play it because they didn't have a lot of choice. So I-I did get to grow up with MTV and we had a nice symbiotic relationship for-for-for many years 'til uh-I-uh had my Logan's Run experience where uh-I became "too old for the demographic".


Tom: People ignore the controversy that's often surrounded Weird Al in his life.  Um, the first time he was on tv no-one would film him from the neck up because it was "too disturbing" for the people at home, they said. And then there was that whole thing about Jesus that he said .[They start playing ominous music] He actually didn't say Weird Al was better than Jesus, he said he'd sold more albums than Jesus. I believe that's true. Technically, you can look it up and that is true. [clips to Eat It]

Why would he bring up Jesus in the same manner John Lennon did?

On the Band

Al: Y'know, I-I always like to hear compliments about the band because I always feel that those guys don't get nearly enough credit for the great work that they do. People denegrate the music sometimes because "Oh, its comedy. It's funny. They can't possibly be a real band" but I mean, if you look at the breadth of what they've done over the last 2, 3 decades I mean, they've done everything from zydeco to polka to gangsta rap and they, they nail each genre perfectly. And you know, that's not easy to do. These guys really know what they're doing. It's a pleasure to work with them on a daily basis.

Insanely talented musicians, or working with spirits?

...Tom mentions Weird Al has worked with the same sound engineer for all of his albums "Unemployable? Or loyal? You decide."...


Describing a ritualistic initiation?


Ruben: I learned all the songs perfectly, and when it came my turn to play with Al-during the Dr.Demento 20th Anniversary-he didn't care what I played like. He just wanted to make sure that I took the eye poke well, and fall on my head. So I devised it, when cameras were rolling, that he came over, delivered the eye poke, and I promptly fell eight feet down, on my head, they loved it, they thought it was the funniest thing in the world, and they called me back to go on tour. So there you have it: That's how I ended up with Al.


...Tom and Ben make bizarre not-quite-jokes about restraining orders, breaking into James Taylors house to write songs on his acoustic guitar, Carly Simon, mocking birds, and paying the piper...

Tom and Ben: Al returned after a year wearing long flowing robes, talking about giving back to his people, and smelling like somebodies feet. We were understandably unnerved but we wanted a raise, so we came back to work for him. Turns out he'd spent that year in India with a guy claiming to be a maharishi. At the end of the year, the maharishi tried to get him to invest in a frozen yogurt business 


Tom and Ben mention Al played Vegas for years and was "kind of a lost soul".


[Smells Like Nirvana plays just before this conversation. Puts a different twist on the line "What's the message/I'm conveying?/Can you tell me/what I'm saying?"]


On Songwriting and Masonry


Al: First and foremost I'm just..*strange noise* going for laughs. Every once in awhile some satire or actual commentary will creep in. A-against my will. Then-then they're teaching these classes in the -uh- Weird Al discography at the local community college. They're-they're picking apart the lyrics trying to find the meaning [laughs almost nervously].
Ben: Weird Al scholars have puzzled for years over his constant use of the number 27. Which did happen after he took that intensive correspondance course on Kabbalah.
Tom: You don't know what it is?
Ben: No, I don't. He never told me. Did he tell you?!
Tom: Oh, yeah! He told all the guys in the band and me,y-yeah.
Ben: Really?!
Tom: Yeah.
Ben: What is it? [sounds like he opens a folded note] oh my goodness!
Tom: Yeah.
Ben: Wow! Look at that!
Tom: yeah.
Ben: Is that like, Masonic?
Tom: uhh...I think it predates the Revelations.
Ben: Wow!
Tom: ..lemme...fold a dollar bill...like that...[paper rustling]
Ben: Wow! Look at that! ...Nostradamus stuff!
Tom: Yeah...interesting, right?
Ben: *sounding impressed* Very!
Tom: ...and if look and you take the eagle like that [paper rustling] it was hiding there the whole time! Looks like Weird Al, there y'go. On the dollar bill.

Either Bermuda or Jim: Yeah, y'know Al pretty much has outlived-his career has outlived- many of all the bands he's, uh, he's done stylistic comments on. But I mean one way of looking at it is there's never-never a lack of m-material for him to uh work with. There's always going to be something out there. And its interesting too because his career has uh-everytime he puts a record out...he kind of um, regenerates a new audience. The demographic at our shows is all over the map. 
Jim or Bermuda mentions couples who have met at Al's shows and gotten married, predicts they'll breed a new generation of Al fans.
Ben: ...Kids, you exist because of the magical talent of Weird Al Yankovic.


Wrapping Up


Ben: Ladies and gentlemen, he may be a monster, uhh...but he's the only Weird Al we've got. And we will leave you with one last memory of our time on the road with him. Every morning when he'd unlock the roadies room and let us out for breakfast and re-education, we'd put our hands on our hearts and sing along with what we called "The 'Weird Al' Anthem". Then he'd charge us royalties for singing his song. That's the way it works with him.   [they banter some more then end with Dare to be Stupid]

Hit stores June 21st 2011

(Some) Image Sources:

http://fredseibert.com/post/68774160/mtv-music-television-the-logo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63721124@N00/3793128266/

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/10/20/the-search-for-a-great-tv-space-comedy-continues-robert-ben-garant-and-thomas-lennon-could-be-the-ones-to-get-it-right/

Weird Al part one

I really want to believe he is simply a funnyman, a brilliant musician parodying popular music inadvertantly promoting an agenda to which he is oblivious. Better yet, he is outright mocking it. I want to believe that! I love this man so much that at one point in time I was saving my virginity for him! It's true. However, I can't deny the plausability of his involvement in something darker; so I'm exploring the matter.

I won't get too much into the details of Al's debut album as this site here gives the play-by-play complete with YouTube clips of the song.  It includes Ricky, a tribute to I Love Lucy. Lucille Ball has been linked to pretty much attributing her success to a visit from the dead. You could say Lucy is a pet name for Lucifer.

Toni Basil's career is now teaching performing, choreography, production, acting, and directing for theater, film, video, and concerts according to her website. Perhaps she is deliberately grooming the next generation of puppets. According to rumours, in her video and promos for Mickey she wears her actual Las Vegas High uniform, for whom she was Head Cheerleader. According to Pop-up Video she was never Head Cheerleader.

If I'm not mistaken, Weird Al's first actual music video was Ricky. His first "music video" was My Bologna and was more a live performance. Ricky is the only video that doesn't resemble the original, probably due to the Lucy theme and possibly becase Al didn't want to be in drag for his debut. Here are some pictures (stolen from his website) of him getting into Ricky's character:

No moustache

Notice the difference in his eyes? Good actor, lack of glasses/blindness, or something more?

His next big video was I Love Rocky Road. They used dyed mashed potatoes because ice cream would melt too fast on set.

In 1985 Al released one of his original songs (in the style of Devo) as a single, entitled Dare to be Stupid

He refers to "time" a lot:

"It's time for us to join in the fight"

"You better sell some wine before it's/its time"

"It's time to make a mountain out of a molehill"

"There's no more time for crying over spilled milk
Now it's time for crying in your beer"

I find these particular messages interesting:

"Settle down, raise a family, join the PTA
Buy some sensible shoes and a Chevyrolet
And party 'till you're broke and they drive you away
It's OK, you can dare to be stupid"

"The future's up to you
So what you gonna do

Dare to be stupid"

Whaddya know? As the years (and Al's career) progressed, Western society became more stupid. No, I'm not crediting Al with turning us into morons. Merely stating that his lyrics were prophetic.

  

Weird Al's career picked up momentum with the release of his Michael Jackson parodies.

Beat It was an homage to masturbation.

His "sexy" Madonna dance near the end is both memorable and awesome

In 1996 Al's career was at a high with the release of Bad Hair Day. His single Amish Paradise was wildly popular, and surrounded by contreversy. The story is Al was told he had the green light from Coolio to parody Gangsta's Paradise and do a music video. By the time he found out a video wasn't okay, it was too late. 

Amish Paradise became one of Al's biggest hits, making Bad Hair Day a best-seller.

Scared he's going to run into Coolio?

One song that didn't recieve any attention (it was sadly never a single) was yet another original, entitled Everything You Know is Wrong.

"And as I'm laying bleeding there on the asphalt
Finally I recognize the face of my hibachi dealer
Who takes off his prosthetic lips and tells me

Everything you know is wrong
Black is white, up is down and short is long
And everything you thought was just so
Important doesn't matter"

Near-death experience resulting in a revelation by someone in a mask (of sorts). Al is being quite blunt in the bolded lines.  

He mentions a Hibachi dealer. I assumed this was a car model. Turns out its a Japanese grill.

http://www.beso.com/castiron-hibachi/search?rf=bbq

http://www.hibachi.com.au/

Scary prosthetic lips (and face) on Halle Berry (another product of MK)

"..I accidentally stepped into an alternate dimension
And soon I was abducted by some aliens from space
Who kinda looked like Jamie Farr

They sucked out my internal organs
And they took some polaroids
And said I was a darn good sport
And as a way of saying thank you
They offered.."

Another world that exists within our world unseen to the majority. Alien abduction is popular among MK victims. It is often believed that Jamie Farr played an alien named Stobo in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964), however that was Al Nesor, who looks a lot like Jamie Farr. The internal organ suctioning would be a metaphor for a feeling/state of emptiness. Handlers have also been known to take pictures of their work (mementoes, if you will). In 1996 the internet was still catching on, and mostly dial-up. Digital cameras weren't really heard of. If you were a Handler in '96 capturing your "glories" on camera, Polaroids would likely be your choice unless you had trusted connections who developed film (or better yet, had your own darkroom). MK victims usually receive rewards after ritualistic abuse.

"Just then the floating disembodied head of
Colonel Sanders started yelling"

I'm not 100% on any Coloner Sanders symbolism. In 1935 he was granted the title of Colonel and started dressing as a Southern gent, calling himself the Colonel in a manner of self-promotion. It could have been purely innocent on his part. But this seems scary to me:

It feels like he's watching us

"Everything you know is wrong
Just forget the words and sing along
All you need to understand is
Everything you know is wrong"

Very telling, yet on the surface, strange, lyrics. What he's really saying is bolded. But of course nobody is listening: He's Weird Al! He sings ridiculous nonsense all the time! Nobody drives down a freeway with rabid wolverines in their underwear!

"I was just about to mail a letter to my evil twin
When I got a nasty papercut
And, well, to make a long story short
It got infected and I died"

Duality, DID/MPD. Another death experience.

"So now I'm up in heaven with St. Peter
By the pearly gates
And it's obvious he doesn't like
The Nehru jacket that I'm wearing
He tells me that they've got a dress code"

Simon-Peter is most famous for his upside-down crucifixtion. He chose to be hung that way, stating he was unworthy of dying in the same manner as Jesus Christ. He'd never forgiven himself for his denial of Jesus the day of his Saviours death. Followers of the dark one have twisted the meaning of the upside-down cross to represent their lord. I find it particularly odd that he insinuates Heaven would find a Nehru jacket distasteful.

Jesus did say that the devil wanted Peter. I guess this artist decided to help the dark one. Allegedly Gene Simmons claims that as a boy he saw his mother do this hand gesture. When he asked her what it was, she told him it was to ward off evil. I don't believe it for a minute!  

The Nehru jacket; this site did an article on said jacket, unaware it was full of symbolism. (Sammy Davis Jr. was a Satanist, and the Beatles have also been linked to the Illuminati. Dr.Evil is standing in front of a black and white stripes. Perhaps this is why St.Peter dislikes the jacket, despite its dressy appearance.) The Nehru jacket is originally an Indian design.

1996 was also the year The Weird Al Show came out. It only lasted a season, as the network that ran it changed their Saturday morning line-up. Remember how awesome Saturday morning tv used to be?

Dr.Demento and Al at the "Dr's" 20th Anniversary bash , I believe at Disneyland. Dr Demento gave Al the leg up early on in Al's career.

At the Team America:World Police premiere

White and Nerdy

Straight Outta Lynwood

Does that say "Empty" behind him?

Have you noticed the strange look in his eyes yet? Its prevalent in many of his pictures

Ritual of sorts? The blond guy has intense eyes:

Why is he pointing to his junk at a kids book signing?

Checkerboard tie on a suspicious looking Teller (the other guy has a reptilian stare going on)

Monarch purple robe

Chris Robinson of the Black Crows, also Kate Hudson's ex

New album coming out

This was entitled "Holy Trinity of Pop Culture" on his website

At the Red premiere

Inverted red pyramid behind, she has a vacant stare

Living up to his "Weird" persona?

 

The Weird Al wiki has some notable facts about his use of the number 27.