Weird Al Yankovic Takes A "Polka" At Taylor Swift, Cardi B And Ed Sheeran

With the release of “Eat It” in 1984, Weird Al Yankovic made himself the premiere name in music parodies. Forty years later, he’s still cranking out parodies, as his newest project dropped on July 15th. Released ten years to the day after his last album, “Polkamania” is a whimsical Weird Al medley song, but with a twist--rather than writing parody lyrics of hit songs, he covers hit songs as polkas. “Weird Al” appeared on 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program and immediately addressed the dark side of his craft: do any of the artists object to having a parody made of their songs?

“Every single song is a polka medley,” Weird Al told Berman and Riedel. “I got personal permission form the artists, so everybody’s cool with it. [But] you know, everybody asks that. Everybody focuses on the negatives. Yeah, I mean, it happens, but it’s pretty rare because, like 98% of the artists actually look forward to the Weird Al parodies. It’s their badge of honor, so it’s like they finally made it when they get the Weird Al parodies.”

If things had gone according to plan in Weird Al’s life, however, he’d be creating buildings instead of songs. “You know, I actually went to college and I got a degree in architecture. I thought I was going to be an architect and be an adult and a grown-up and have a real job, but it didn’t work out that way. I got warped somewhere along the path and now I get to be Weird Al for a living. [I attended] California Polytechnic State University of San Luis Obispo; the T-shirts were three-foot wide to get all that on there.”

“Polkamania” features the work of twelve current artists, ranging from Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift to Billie Eilish and Luis Fonsi. The accompanying video on YouTube also features an “anijam” done by animators who have collaborated with Weird Al in the past.