Velvet Elvis

Post by jb » Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:39 am

Weird Al's "Velvet Elvis" just came up on my random iTunes playlist, and after 20 years or whatever it just dawned on me that it's a Police "style" parody. But is it a parody of any particular song? I mean, in melody and structure and chords. Or is it just an amalgamation of a bunch of Police tricks? The lyrics (I think) are original.

Post by **Lunkhead** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 12:15 pm

Is it kind of like "Dare To Be Stupid"? I didn't think that was a knock-off of a particular DEVO song, just a take on their style. I could be wrong, though.

Eric Y. · Post by **Eric Y.** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 12:20 pm

yeah that's the same impression i had about "dare to be stupid". "velvet elvis" on the other hand -- i remember that song was on one of many weird al tapes i used to have but i can't remember what it sounded like. i'm going to go raid my lil brother's music collection and see what he has, because i know he inherited a lot of my old stuff. i'll get back to you on that.

erik · Post by **erik** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 2:15 pm

That's what "style parody" means, folks. It means that he is trying to sound like a particular band, something that Weird Al did quite a bit of.

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 2:18 pm

A related question: Infact, the same question, but a different song. What was "I Lost on Jeopardy" taking on?

erik · Post by **erik** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 2:20 pm

"Our Love's in Jeopardy" by whoever does that song.

Eric Y. · Post by **Eric Y.** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 2:23 pm

that was the greg kihn band. the same people who did that "they don't write like that anymore" song.

and speaking of weird al and style parodies, i guess that would be like his beach boys-esque "trigger happy", eh?

[edit: and speaking of "i lost on jeopardy", sometimes late at night where i used to work, on the satellite radio thing, they would play all kinds of old songs (including most of the saturday night fever soundtrack but that's a different story) -- and one night they played a bunch of original versions of songs weird al did. i'm sure the programming director or whatever must've done it on purpose. the only ones i can remember right now were "our love's in jeopardy" and james brown's "living in america" but there were a couple others i think]

Justincombustion · Post by **Justincombustion** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:19 pm

Glenn Case sings like Wierd Al (sometimes). He would kick ass in a Wierd Al cover fight!

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 12:14 pm

"You Make Me" -- Oingo Boingo style-parody
"Genius in France" -- Frank Zappa style-parody
"Bob" -- Bob Dylan style-parody, composed in palindromes

Weird Al is mighty.

Post by jb » Wed Oct 20, 2004 12:22 pm

"Dog Eat Dog" is a Talking Heads style parody, I think.

WHERE'S MY LIQUID PAPER?!

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 12:26 pm

Oh yeaaaaaaah. Forgot about that one (duhhhh). Now the first thing out of my mouth at work tonight will be "This is not my beautiful stapler!"

Even if I misremebered that line, heh. Thanks for the memories, yo.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 12:50 pm

Also, I'd include "One More Minute" as a parody of, what, doo-wop?
I love that song.
"I'm stranded all alone in the gas station of love
and I have to use the self-service pump"
-bill

jute gyte · Post by **jute gyte** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 12:56 pm

he did a nine inch nails style parody called 'germs' (i think) that sounds a lot like glenn case to me.

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 1:23 pm

HeuristicsInc wrote:Also, I'd include "One More Minute" as a parody of, what, doo-wop?
I love that song.
"I'm stranded all alone in the gas station of love
and I have to use the self-service pump"
-bill

"One More Minute" was a parody of a specific song, but I don't know what. I was surprised one evening a few years back when I was at a facy restaurant and there was a jazz band playing the "original" of that song. I have no idea what the title was or who performed it originally, but I doubt this band would play a Weird Al original.

erik · Post by **erik** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 4:41 pm

Generic wrote:"One More Minute" was a parody of a specific song, but I don't know what. I was surprised one evening a few years back when I was at a facy restaurant and there was a jazz band playing the "original" of that song. I have no idea what the title was or who performed it originally, but I doubt this band would play a Weird Al original.

Well, they were either playing a Weird Al original or alot of doowop songs sound similar, as it's not on this list.

http://www.weirdal.com/parodypolkas.htm

GlennCase · Post by **GlennCase** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 4:33 pm

Justincombustion wrote:Glenn Case sings like Wierd Al (sometimes). He would kick ass in a Wierd Al cover fight!

jute gyte wrote:he did a nine inch nails style parody called 'germs' (i think) that sounds a lot like glenn case to me.

HAHAH! I do get compared to Weird Al... a LOT. I don't really care for "germs" much, but I don't mind the comparison. I have most of his CDs, and I happen to think he is a great musician.

jb wrote:Weird Al's "Velvet Elvis" just came up on my random iTunes playlist, and after 20 years or whatever it just dawned on me that it's a Police "style" parody.

Add this to the list of many songs I would love to hear the JBB cover.

ROCK!

Glenn (DR FUNK)