“Weird Al” Breaks Down All 14 of His Polka Medleys, Including the New “Polkamania”

The post “Weird Al” Breaks Down All 14 of His Polka Medleys, Including the New “Polkamania” appeared first on Consequence .

“Weird Al” Yankovic has five Grammys, an Emmy, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the first comedy album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. He’s a living pop culture legend — and he’s probably the only such artist who could get generations of fans excited by releasing a polka. But here were are in the year 2024, “Weird Al” is back with “Polkamania,” and we couldn’t be more pumped to get down with the oom-pah-pah.

“Polkamania” arrives to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Mandatory Fun , “Weird Al’s” last album and his only No. 1 record. The mashup marks his first polka medley since he contributed “The Hamilton Polka” to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamildrop” series in 2018, and his first to feature songs from different artists since Mandatory Fun ’s “NOW That’s What I Call Polka.”

This time around, he’s given the accordion makeover to tracks like Billie Eilish’s “bad guy,” Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” Olivia Rodrigo’s “vampire,” Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk,” and (God help us all) Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP.”

“A lot of those artists are ones that would be great to do parodies of,” “Weird Al” tells Consequence . “I just haven’t been so focused on doing the straight ahead parodies in the last few years. I’ve been focusing on other media. But yeah, a lot of the artists in ‘Polkamania’ are ones that certainly would be great targets at some point.”

Although we’d still love to hear the Great British Bake Off -themed parody of “Shake It Off,” polka medleys have been part of the “Weird Al” universe since the very early days of his career — and even earlier. “It goes back to my teenage days,” he explains. “I found out when I was very young that my friends thought it was funny when I played any rock song on the accordion. They just thought that was humorous, and everything sounded like a polka on the accordion.”

Over 40 years later, “Polkamania” confirms that popular songs played on accordion are still incredibly funny. To rejoice in the timelessness of his unique form of comedy covers, we sat down with “Weird Al” himself to dissect all 14 of his polka medleys. Watch the “Polkamania” ani-jam video (more on that ahead!) and see what “Weird Al” Yankovic has to say about all his mashups below.

“Polkas on 45”

“Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D (1984): Stream | Buy

Included Artists: Jaromír Vejvoda, Devo, Deep Purple, Berlin, The Beatles, The Doors, Iron Butterfly, Jimi Hendrix, Talking Heads, Foreigner, Bob Calame, The Police, The Clash, The Rolling Stones, The Who

Later polkas became time capsules of whatever came between that latest and the one before it, but on that first one, you had all of music history to look at. What led to you to make a polka medley of these songs versus a parody?

“Polkas on 45” wasn’t actually my first polka medley — it’s the first recorded polka medley. I had a version that included some of the songs in “Polkas on 45,” but it also included a lot more new wave and punk songs. I got to debut it when I opened for Missing Persons in 1982 — and got booed off the stage. On “Polkas on 45,” there are a few holdovers like Devo, things that maybe wouldn’t be considered classic rock at the time, but I wanted it to be just a real hodgepodge of classic rock and odd things and new wave, things that I just personally liked and kind of throw them all together.

Like, one of the things I did in college with my friend Joe, who played the bongos, we used to go into the coffee house and play a medley of every song ever written in the history of the world. So it’s all these just bizarre, random things like the theme from 2001 and the theme from The Odd Couple and “Happy Birthday to You” and whatever. Just as random as possible for 20 minutes. So that was probably part of the inspiration as well, like the more random the better.

“Hooked on Polkas”

Dare to be Stupid (1985): Stream | Buy

Included Artists: Euday L. Bowman, The Jacksons and Mick Jagger, ZZ Top, Tina Turner, Hall & Oates, Yes, Twisted Sister, Nena, Kenny Loggins, Duran Duran, Quiet Riot, Frankie Goes to Hollywood

“Hooked on Polkas” is where the time capsule feeling starts to come in. What was the decision process like to go that route, and how much of it was based on parodying the Hooked on Classics album?

Well, certainly “Hooked on Polkas” was a takeoff of Hooked on Classics the same way that “Polkas on 45” was a takeoff on Stars on 45 . It was the big kind of medley of the moment. I’m not sure if that was the reason it became a time capsule; I just felt like I had gone back in time with the first polka medley and done a lot of the classic songs, and I figured for my for my next one, I’d just keep it more current and do more of the songs that were more contemporary. I guess that set the trend that that’s the way that I did it from that point onward — to the point where people say, “Oh I haven’t been really following pop music in the last three years, but I just listened to your polka medley and I’m all caught up now!”

“Polka Party”

Polka Par ty! (1986): Stream | Buy

Included Artists: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Eddie Murphy, Lionel Richie, Aretha Franklin, INXS, The Rolling Stones/Bob & Earl, Bananarama/Shocking Blue, Janet Jackson, Falco, Tears for Fears, Madonna

There are live performances of “Polka Party” where “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” by Wang Chung is part of the medley, with you changing the lyrics to “everybody Weird Al tonight.” Is there a reason that section existed live but fell off the record?

That’s a really good question — and honestly, I don’t remember the answer to that. I can only assume. I assume that my original version had the Wang Chung song in there and for whatever reason we couldn’t get that cleared. And I just thought it was a great thing to have in the medley, so we just played it live that way anyway, even though we couldn’t put it on the record that way.

“The Hot Rocks Polka”

UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff (1989): Stream | Buy

Included Artists: The Rolling Stones

This is the only time you did a medley of a single artist ( Hamilton and “Bohemian Rhapsody” not withstanding). Why did you go that route, and then why did you choose The Rolling Stones?

I wanted to try something different. I’d done the medleys as I’d done for the last two or three times and I thought, “Oh, let’s try more of a theme one where it’s all one artist.” And there are very few acts that would sustain like that for a polka medley — that had enough big hits and it was iconic enough that it would make sense. The Beatles and The Stones and Led Zeppelin, I suppose, and maybe U2. It’s a handful of acts.

I think maybe The Stones were on tour at that time, so maybe it felt especially topical. Also, their lyrics are a little bit more dark and hard edged, which I thought would be funnier with a polka beat. I was amazed by how many people heard my polka and said, “Those were the lyrics?!”

“Polka Your Eyes Out”

Off the Deep End (1992): Stream | Buy

Included Artists: Billy Idol, DNA feat. Suzanne Vega, The B-52’s, A. Humpfat, Technotronic, R.E.M., EMF, Bell Biv DeVoe, Metallica, Digital Underground, Warrant, Janet Jackson, Divinyls, Mötley Crüe, Vanilla Ice

As a time capsule of the early ’90s, “Polka Your Eyes Out” shows how really wide popular music had gotten. This had everything from The B-52’s to Janet Jackson, Metallica to Bell Biv DeVoe, R.E.M. to Vanilla Ice. Are there any types of songs or genres that are harder to turn into a polka, or easier for that matter?

When it comes to arranging for polka medleys, it kind of doesn’t matter what genre it is. It’s more about making sure that it fits the flow and fits the key, and the chord changes seem to work well going into and going out of the next piece. I can’t really say that any genre is better or worse for a polka medley.

It’s not really harder — I wouldn’t even say it’s more work — but in a lot of rap songs, obviously there’s no melody per se. So I have to kind of create one, but again, that doesn’t make it harder or more difficult really. It’s just something else that’s part of the arranging process.

“Bohemian Polka”

Alapalooza (1993): Stream | Buy

Included Artists: Queen

While “Hot Rocks” was a single artist , “Bohemian Polka” is a single song . It’s not a polka medley , but all the movements in “Bohemian Rhapsody” lend itself to being a polka. What was really genius about it, though, is the timing. This was released in ’93, and I’m going to guess that’s because of Wayne’s World . Most of what you do is so attuned to the pop culture of a moment; how are you so good at identifying these moments?

That’s 100 percent the reason. Otherwise, I would have done it when it was topical, but that song came out in the ’70s, before I had a record deal. And “Bohemian Rhapsody” was huge again because of Wayne’s World — it was very much in the zeitgeist — and I thought, “Well, you know, the medleys are fun, but if I were to ever do a polka version of just one song in its entirety, it would have to be ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.'” So, I figured, “This is my chance.” And again, it’s something different. I hadn’t done that before and thought I’d give it a shot.

It’s a little bit of luck, the stars aligning and all that. And I’m very plugged into pop culture. I’ve always been a fan and immersed myself in it, and I try to be aware of what’s happening. It just seemed like the right time and the right moment.

“The Alternative Polka”

Bad Hair Day (1996): Stream | Buy

Included Artists: Beck, Stone Temple Pilots, Sheryl Crow, Nine Inch Nails, R.E.M., Alanis Morissette, The Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Green Day

“The Alternative Polka” is rather infamous for Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” being pulled at the last minute. You shared the original version a couple years ago. What’s amazing is that in both the original version and the released version, the flow doesn’t even feel hiccuped. How did you pull of such a smooth transition after cutting out a segment last minute?

That was a matter of luck. I think that the songs before and after “Buddy Holly” were in the same key and more or less the same tempo. So if we had to cut it out, which we did, it didn’t ruin the song, thankfully. The person from Weezer’s record label at the time just thought it was no big deal: “Oh, we just use Pro Tools. Just cut it out.” First of all, we weren’t using Pro Tools. We were still analog back then, so we literally had to cut it out with a razor blade on analog tape. And thankfully, it still sounded okay. You barely know that there was an edit made. It was not jarring at all, but we were just lucky. It worked out that way.

For what it’s worth, I will say that Rivers did apologize after the fact. He sent me a nice text saying, “Hey man, sorry about the ‘Buddy Holly’ thing!”

“Polka Power!”

Running with Scissors (1999): Stream | Buy

Included Artists: Spice Girls, Harvey Danger, Pras feat. Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Backstreet Boys, Smash Mouth, Beastie Boys, Chumbawamba, Madonna, Matchbox Twenty, Third Eye Blind, Marilyn Manson, Hanson, Marcy Playground, Semisonic

It’s amazing that it was so seamless doing that by razor and tape! But speaking of seamless polkas, I truly think “Polka Power” might have the smoothest flow of any of the medleys. Can you give us some insight into what arranging these polka-fied versions of songs is like?

The process is usually first, I just make a list of songs that I want in the medley. Then I present my manager with that list, and he does the heavy lifting of reaching out to the original artists or their managers or their reps or their publisher or whoever that we need to get clearance for those songs. And then once we get the clearances back, it’s kind of a puzzle for me. I need to figure, “Okay, what order do I put this in? What song goes into what song?” Usually I’ll figure, “Well, it’s got to end strong, so what, what do I want to end it with? And then it’s got to begin strong, so what do I want to begin it with?”

Then I just figure out how to weave all the songs from point A to point B so that it flows well — so that the tempo maybe increases or feels like it’s going somewhere. Maybe there’s a point in the middle where there’s a breakdown and it gets jazzy or whatever. But I want to know that it has a flow to it, because the polka melodies are usually four-plus minutes long, so you don’t want it to feel monotonous. You want it to feel like it’s going somewhere. You also have to make the segues interesting and make it feel like it’s not repetitive, that you’re really taking it a different direction with every song. That’s the challenge — and also to make sure all the songs are somewhat in my vocal range.

“Angry White Boy Polka”

Poodle Hat (2003): Stream | Buy

Included Artists: Papa Roach, System of a Down, The Vines, The Hives, The White Stripes, The Strokes, Disturbed, Rage Against the Machine/Afrika Bambaataa, Limp Bizkit, Staind, Kid Rock, P.O.D., Eminem

Like “The Alternative Polka,” “Angry White Boy Polka” really honed in on a type of music that was defining an era. In the midst of it, how were you able to realize that this would be the defining sound of the early 2000s?

Well, I just listened to the radio at the time to figure out that’s what was going on! I will say that I really like “Angry White Boy Polka,” but it’s not as pure as I wanted it to be because there are some acts on the list which I wouldn’t really define as angry white boys. There are a couple that I didn’t get permission for — like I really wanted to get permission for “Freak on a Leash” by Korn, and a couple of things like that, that felt more like angry white boy music. I tried really hard; I twisted a lot of arms, but it doesn’t always work.

So, I made a detour into the DIY garage band genre, which is why there are acts like The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Hives, and The Vines. So, it’s a little bit of a mishmash, but I still thought that “Angry White Boy Polka” was a catchy enough title for it.

“Polkarama!”

Straight Outta Lynwood (2006): Stream | Buy

Included Artists: Werner Thomas, Black Eyed Peas, Franz Ferdinand, Weezer, Coldplay, Modest Mouse, Gorillaz feat. De La Soul, The Pussycat Dolls feat. Busta Rhymes, The Killers, Velvet Revolver, 50 Cent feat. Olivia, Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell Williams, Rihanna, Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx

Nickelback is named in the liner notes for Straight Outta Lynwood , because I understand the plan was for “Photograph” to be in this medley. What made “Photograph” so hard to fit in that at the end of the day you had to leave it off?

Like I said, I always get permission for all the songs first. Once I have my list of approved and cleared songs, then I arrange it into a medley. It’s like I said: It’s always a puzzle — and that Nickelback song was like the puzzle piece that got left over, because I created this medley and it flowed really well, and wherever I tried to stick in “Photograph,” it just kind of interrupted the flow. It just didn’t feel right. I felt terrible about it, because Nickelback was super nice. I think they were even excited about being in the medley. And I had to let them know, “Uh, I’m sorry guys!” I never got the Nickelback hate.

“Polka Face”

Alpocalypse (2011): Stream | Buy

Included Artists: Will Glahé, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Flo Rida, Kesha, Kid Cudi, Lady Antebellum, Justin Bieber feat. Ludacris, P!nk, Katy Perry, Owl City, Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain, Iyaz, Jay Sean feat. Lil Wayne, Taio Cruz feat. Ludacris, Frankie Yankovic

This saw the beginning of the Ani-Jam videos, which carries on today with “Polkamania.”

I didn’t create the Ani-Jam. I got that idea actually from a Canadian animator named Marv Newland. You might know him from a student film that he did back in the ’70s called Bambi Meets Godzilla . He’s still most famous for that, which I’m sure bugs him because he’s gone on to be a world class animator, and that was just a student film that just made all the animation festivals forever. But, he got a bunch of his animator friends together and they did this thing called an Ani-Jam, where it was basically, you know, here’s the beginning frame and here’s the end frame and do whatever you want in the middle, and I’ll just string them all together.

I’m a big animation fan, and I’ve seen that kind of work at festivals when I thought, “Well, this would lend itself perfectly to any kind of medley. I’ll just have a different animator do every song on the medley and we’ll just string them all together!”

“NOW That’s What I Call Polka!”

Mandatory Fun (2014): Stream | Buy

Included Artists: Arthur Godfrey, Miley Cyrus, Foster the People, One Direction, Psy, Carly Rae Jepsen, will.i.am feat. Britney Spears, Gotye feat. Kimbra, Kesha, LMFAO, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz, Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams

Bit of a big picture question: “NOW That’s What I Call Polka” comes from Mandatory Fun , your first and only number one album. After that, you said that further traditional albums probably aren’t in your future. Do you think you might have felt less resolved to say, “No more albums,” if that record hadn’t gone to number one?

I don’t think so. I don’t think I’d be like, “Oh, no! I’ve got to keep going till I get a number one album!” ‘Cause I never thought that was an option in the first place! I’d pretty much decided before Mandatory Fun came out that it would be my last album, and said as much at the time. And I still feel that way. Hitting number one was just a nice mic drop, a nice way to end my album run. I’m extremely thankful for it, and it still kind of blows my mind to this day.

“The Hamilton Polka”

“Hamildrop” Series (2018): Stream

Included Artists: Lin-Manuel Miranda

A musical, particularly a Lin-Manuel Miranda musical, has a very different kind of song structure than a normal rock or pop song. Was there anything uniquely challenging or uniquely fun about taking a musical — especially a hip-hop musical — and making a medley?

Well, the challenge was Lin’s an old friend of mine, so I didn’t want to mess it up! I really wanted to make sure I did it justice. It’s virtually impossible to tell the entire story of a two-hour plus musical in a five-minute song, so basically I tried to hit all the, I guess, more memorable songs from Hamilton . I was trying to stay away from the really sad songs, because Act II, there’s a lot of very sad songs. So it heavily features Act I, which is much more upbeat. I just tried to use as many iconic moments as I could from the musical.

It was one of those songs that Lin asked me to do, but I probably would have asked him if I was still under my album contract, ’cause that would have been a very natural polka medley for that period of time.

“Polkamania!”

Standalone Single (2024)

Included Artists: Billie Eilish, Adele, Miley Cyrus, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X, Luis Fonsi feat. Daddy Yankee, Ed Sheeran, Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars, Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift

Ten years after your last album and six after “The Hamilton Polka,” “Weird Al” is back with “Polkamania.” What was it like selecting the proper combination of music for the last decade, and what was it like unlocking the polka medley section of your brain again?

I don’t think that part of my brain is ever inaccessible. This is sort of like riding a bike. It comes back very quickly when I start arranging polka music. But, this was a bit of a challenge because normally, my polkas are a much smaller time capsule, and here I was dealing with 10 years worth of music. And you know, during that time, I thought I was going to be a bit more prolific in terms of putting out parodies and things like that, and that wasn’t the case. So, there are a lot of big songs and big artists that kind of fell by the wayside and that I didn’t get a chance to take a poke at.

This was my chance to go back over the last decade and find my white whales, the ones that got away, you know? I limited it only to songs that made No. 1 on the Billboard chart, so that limited it quite a bit already. Then I went through and just picked the ones that I felt were the most memorable of the last decade.

“Weird Al” Breaks Down All 14 of His Polka Medleys, Including the New “Polkamania”
Ben Kaye