SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
When I was in sixth grade, I dubbed Weird Al Yankovic's entire album "Bad Hair Day" - yes, the one with "Amish Paradise" - off my friend's casettetape. And when Weird Al recently visited NPR, I felt the obligation to admit this small act of middle school piracy to him.
WEIRD AL YANKOVIC: You know, it's not about the money. I'm going to have to report you to the FBI.
DETROW: OK, that's fair. That's fair.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
YANKOVIC: OK. Let's get tiny.
(LAUGHTER)
DETROW: Three decades later, Weird Al is still at it and has new generations of fans. At his Tiny Desk Concert recently, there were people of all ages - people in their mid-60s, kids who could have been their grandchildren. Afterward, Weird Al sat down to take my questions.
Is it fair to say that, like, doing a radio interview is kind of getting back to your roots. Like, there was a point where you were architecture student Al Yankovic, and then you started hosting a college radio show and everything changed?
YANKOVIC: Yeah. It wasn't, like, a talk show, though. It was sort of like I was a surrogate to Dr. Demento...
DETROW: OK.
YANKOVIC: ...Cause he was my hero, and he was the guy that encouraged me to do funny songs in the first place. So I would play the pop music of the day or whatever. I was required to by the playlist. But then I would, like, sneak in some Tom Lehrer or some Spike Jones or something to make it a little bit more demented.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EBAY")
YANKOVIC: (Singing) ...On eBay. Tell me why...
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) I need another pet rock.
DETROW: You were playing the accordion for a while, but what was the moment when it first occurred to you to rewrite a popular song?
YANKOVIC: Oh, gosh. I mean, you know, it wasn't anything that was, you know, predetermined or predestined. I think, like every 8-year-old kid in the universe, I was, like, making fun of the songs on the radio and changing the words to make my friends laugh, and it was just one of those silly things that I never grew out of.
DETROW: There was a career there.
YANKOVIC: Yeah.
DETROW: Was there a moment when you were like, I got it. This is something I'm actually really good at.
YANKOVIC: (Laughter) I think it was about a month ago. Finally clicked in.
DETROW: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EBAY")
YANKOVIC: (Singing) ...On eBay. Gonna buy...
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) A slightly-damaged golf bag.
YANKOVIC: (Singing) Gonna buy...
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) Some Beanie Babies...
DETROW: I mean, I'm wondering - I enjoyed the show. I've clearly been listening to your music for a long time. Like, I'm wondering, to you, like, what is your favorite part of the process? Is it the performing? Is it the sitting there and writing? Is it kind of meshing the idea with the catch phrase and kind of finding the lyrics that click? Like, what is it for you that keeps you doing it?
YANKOVIC: It is the performance, which is maybe part of the reason why I haven't really released a lot of a new material in the last dozen years, but I've been touring constantly. Writing - it's pleasurable sometimes, but more often than not, it's just something that I need to do so I will have written something.
DETROW: Yeah.
YANKOVIC: The part of the process where it's already done is my favorite part because then I just have to go out there on stage and perform it.
DETROW: If you were getting started today - there's zero barrier to be on YouTube or to get something on Spotify and to get your music out there. But then at the same time, you don't have that validation of, I'm Weird Al and I'm on MTV, up there, the same level as the Michael Jackson video I'm parodying. So, like, I don't know. It feels like a pro and con. How do you think about the accessibility now for aspiring Weird Al?
YANKOVIC: Yeah, I was definitely lucky when I started out in the early '80s. I have an unfair advantage over everybody else because I kind of became the brand name of parody music. I was the first comedy music videos on MTV, and people associate me with parody. In fact, I've heard my name used as a verb, like, oh, he Weird Aled that song.
(LAUGHTER)
DETROW: How do you feel about that?
YANKOVIC: You know, I - it's like being Kleenex or Xerox. It's great to be a brand name.
DETROW: Take it.
YANKOVIC: Why not?
DETROW: Yeah. Did you - I'm sure you got this question 6 trillion times over the years, but do you have a favorite artist that you kept going back to in your mind or you feel like it was easiest to kind of do a riff on their music?
YANKOVIC: Well, I went to Michael Jackson twice, and I almost went a third time because I was feeling kind of desperate.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EAT IT")
YANKOVIC: (Singing) Just eat it - eat it. Eat it - eat it. Get yourself an egg and beat it. Have some more chicken, have some more pie. It doesn't matter if it's boiled or fried just eat it.
'Cause that was - I think that was after my movie had bombed at the box office, and I really needed another hit. But I thought, oh, you know, I can't go back to the well again, and...
DETROW: (Laughter).
YANKOVIC: You know, so that - certainly Michael Jackson. And there are a number of artists that I've done a parody of and also, like, a pastiche of and also been included in the polka medley. So there are a lot of artists that are my favorites that I like personally and also I enjoy, you know, taking the air out a little bit.
DETROW: Yeah. The two Michael Jackson songs you did, though, I think they hold up pretty well.
YANKOVIC: Oh, thank you.
DETROW: Two for two.
YANKOVIC: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE SAGA BEGINS")
YANKOVIC: (Singing) A long, long time ago in a galaxy far away.
DETROW: You know, one of the songs you played, "The Saga Begins," the riff on the first "Star Wars" prequel, I was - I guess I was and I wasn't surprised at how much everybody in the crowd really got into it. I feel like most of the audience was singing along. It felt like something that was very personal to them.
YANKOVIC: Yeah, it's one of those songs that means a lot to people, particularly "Star Wars" fans, of course. But I mean, I see a lot of people in the audience cosplaying as Jedi Knights and waving their light sabers. And they really get into it. And, you know, I've even heard that, you know, they play that song at "Star Wars" conventions, and people get weepy, you know...
(LAUGHTER)
YANKOVIC: ...Which blows my mind. I mean, I like doing the song, but, I mean, it really hits people in a tender place somehow.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE SAGA BEGINS")
YANKOVIC: (Singing) Oh my, my, this here Anakin guy may be Vader someday later, now he's just a small fry. And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye, sayin', soon, I'm gonna be a Jedi.
DETROW: My 8-year-old has just discovered your music, and we've been listening to it in the car a lot, which has been a lot of fun. I kind of overheard him trying to convince his fellow 8-year-old friend to, you know, get into your music at the same time. And he was making a hard sales pitch. And, like, my household is not alone in that fact. I know there were several people in the audience who brought their parents today. Like, you have this multigenerational fan base going on. How do you think about that? Does it affect the way that you kind of think through your playlist when you're on tour?
YANKOVIC: To some extent - I mean, you know, thanks for pointing that out, because I think that my audience, certainly for concerts, is about as multigenerational as you can get, and everybody's enjoying the show on a different level, which is why, like, sometimes I pick songs for the set list that appeals more maybe to kids, like the Milo Murphy theme song and Captain Underpants. And then some songs from the '80s that maybe their parents or grandparents would be more familiar with. So, yeah, you know, I try to make the set list as diverse as possible and try to, you know, make everybody happy at the same time, which isn't always easy.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SKIPPER DAN")
YANKOVIC: (Singing) Hit the boards and paid my dues and got phenomenal rave reviews. I knew the world was gonna love me, without a doubt.
DETROW: Does it get harder to stay weird as the years go on?
YANKOVIC: Well, you know, that's an interesting thing because I think the whole Weird Al thing has become kind of ironic 'cause people are saying, he's the most normal guy in Hollywood. So it was a nickname that I got in college, and it kind of stuck, and it kind of was descriptive of the music I was putting out and my personality at times. But, you know, I don't feel a pressure to be weird or to be on all the time. I think people realize that, like, when I'm out and about in public or, you know, shopping for groceries, I'm not going to be bouncing off the wall.
DETROW: Just regular Al there.
YANKOVIC: Yeah.
DETROW: Will you ever retire?
YANKOVIC: I - probably won't be my idea (laughter)...
DETROW: Yeah.
YANKOVIC: ...If that's the case. I mean, I don't feel any real reason to retire. I mean, I'm never gonna do a farewell tour. You'll never know when the last tour is. It could be this one (laughter).
DETROW: A lot of people do seven or eight farewell tours.
YANKOVIC: Yes, I don't want to be that person.
DETROW: You know, that's lucrative.
YANKOVIC: Yeah, yeah (laughter).
DETROW: Well, Al Yankovic, thank you for playing the tiny desk and you talking to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
YANKOVIC: My pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SKIPPER DAN")
YANKOVIC: (Singing) I was the new Olivier. Thought I'd be the toast of Sundance, or maybe Cannes. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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