Music News!
Weird Al parody of Lady Gaga Born This Way coming out?
[Apr. 22]
Weird Al Yankovic was struggling to come up with a hit single for his upcoming album. He had all the songs written, recorded, and mastered, he says on his blog, but he needed a single to make the album complete. Despite reservations that “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga would be what everyone expected him to parody, it would in fact be the hit he was looking for.
So, Weird Al sent an email asking for permission to release “Perfrom This Way” on his upcoming album, highlighting how it would preserve the integrity of pop star Lady Gaga and her human rights theme, and that he wanted the proceeds from the song to benefit the Human Rights Campaign. But representatives of Lady Gaga decided she would have to hear the song before she approved it.
Weird Al set about writing the lyrics so he could get the go-ahead in spite of the fact, as he notes, that his songs generally are upheld as “fair use” in court. He just likes to respect the position of the artists. So he sent off the lyrics to the Lady Gaga reps and got a response back again that she would have to actually hear it.
Weird Al writes in his blog:
At this point she has the lyrics… and hopefully she is familiar with her own song… and the parody is basically her music… with my lyrics. It really shouldn’t be that hard to decide – based on having the lyrics right in fornt of you – whether or not you’d be “okay” with a parody.
He says he put it all together and sent a copy and the response was an unreserved “no.”
TMZ however reports the opposite — that Lady Gaga did not ban Weird Al from writing or releasing the parody:
But sources extremely close to the singer [Lady Gaga] tell us, “There must have been a misunderstanding because [Gaga] is in no way trying to block the release of the parody.”
According to sources, “She’s busy touring and hasn’t heard the song yet. Her manager hasn’t had a chance to play it for her yet” — adding, “She’s a huge Weird Al fan.”
A follow-up from Weird Al on his blog indicates that the manager for Lady Gaga never forwarded the song to her, and that she actually loves it and is totally okay with Weird Al including it on his next album. Why her manager kept saying no, we aren’t sure. We do hope to see his “BEYOND AWESOME” video concept very soon. And whether you get the album or not, consider making a donation to the Human Rights Campaign.
GREEN CELEBRITY STATS: Weird Al Yankovic
In addition to supporting the Human Rights Campaign, Weird Al Yankovic posed for a picture and autograph for the Comfort Doll Project, auctioned to help benefit African charities World Vision and Icross Canada. Green celebrity rocker Lady Gaga has designed a bracelet for charity to go to the Japan relief effort. We’re glad the two were able to resolve the misunderstanding.