"Weird Al" Yankovic
"Even worse," of course, because Weird Al, having become the dark side of Michael Jackson, had to do something badder than Bad. The Jackson send-up on this often very funny album is Fat, a tune with the Jackson Bad melody and such lyrics as: "If I have one more pie a la mode/ I'm gonna need my own zip code." Yankovic does a nice turn on La Bamba in Lasagna: "La-la-la-la-lasagna!/ You want-a some lasagna magnifico/ Or-a maybe spaghetti." There's also (This Song's Just) Six Words Long, a variation on the George Harrison hit Got My Mind Set on You, and I Think I'm a Clone Now ("Well, I can be my own best friend, and I can send myself for pizza"). Among the original comedy cuts are Velvet Elvis ("He's so fuzzy...he's so great...never ages...never puts on weight"). Guitarist Rick Derringer produced, helping Al make the album musical as well as witty; among the hired help is Nicolette Larson, who did the background vocals. Al can get a little pointless—Twister or You Make Me, for instance. He never lapses into tastefulness, though, and you have to like a fellow who in a song called Good Old Days reminisces, "Oh, and Mom would be fixin' up somethin' in the kitchen/ Fresh biscuits or hot apple pie/ And I'd spend all day in the basement, torturing rats with a hacksaw or pulling the wings off of flies." (Rock 'N' Roll)
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