Hey there, kids, welcome to the Phile for a Monday. How are you? It seems that everything will be closed until April 30th right now... so you know what means. Five days of the Phile at least for the next few weeks. That's the plan anyway. As Walt Disney World is closed they pledge to use their corporate bailout money for hiring all positions! Food service: robots, custodial: robots, ride ops: robots, merchandise: robots, front gate: robots, princesses: sexy robots. What a strange time to be alive right? Gas is cheapest it's been in thirty years, can't drive. Flights dirt cheap, can't fly. We'r stuck in a fucking Alanis Morisette song. In there months we've gone from Elf on a Shelf to fuck all on the shelf. What does it take to turn a Trump supporter into a socialist? One thousand dollars.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Kidding, it’s not, far from it. With the coronavirus pandemic ruining all our upcoming plans, people have decided to do everything they can to cheer up their neighbors. With the government officially shutting down schools, bars, restaurants, gyms, and pretty any social event, people have been forced to practice social distancing. But fear no more, the lights are still on and strong despite the dark times. By that, I totally mean Christmas lights. Think about it, if you’re stuck at home, the least you can do is decorate your house to cheer people up. It’s brilliant! So yes, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the middle of spring. Several users on social media have decided to hang up their lights to spread cheer during the ongoing health crisis. The trend first came to light on Twitter after several social media users suggested hanging the decorations to show they were still in good spirits. It then gained attention from Milwaukee Brewer broadcaster, Lane Grindle, suggesting everyone get inside their car and look around their neighborhood. Which totally makes sense. If you think about it, it’s a fair social distancing activity since you’re still isolated… just in your car. So, safe to say their tweets actually worked and people began to share photos of their own mid-March Christmas decorations to add some much-needed cheer. Yes, there is still some sign of hope despite this horrible coronavirus outbreak. You know, the world needs a little bit of light right now, so why not help in any way we can? So… is Christmas dinner also happening? I mean, it’s only fair. You’re not winning this time COVID-19.
Oh my, it looks like somebody didn’t get the memo to wear gloves and clothes at all times to protect ourselves from the coronavirus. Nope, this nude woman decided to go against all odds and risked herself from getting COVID-19, and just go out and about in the open wearing her birthday suit.
Yes, basically this blond woman was seen straddling the charging bull statue in NYC totally naked, ignoring all the protection measures that the government and health experts have told to do during the coronavirus pandemic. Because well, she probably wanted some views on social media. I’ll admit it, it’s been some very hard times. I mean being in self-isolation sucks, so this bull rider probably just wanted some attention. Still, super irresponsible of her, because this carefree cowgirl didn’t just expose herself, but others. Also, do you know how dirty that bull is? Basically, you’re exposing yourself, and your private parts, to all the germs you can imagine. That financial district’s bronze icon has been touched by many, and not just New Yorkers, basically everyone who has visited your city. So yeah, you run to your gynecologist and get checked for some herpes or something, because you know you will probably catch an STD. Still, despite the coronavirus warnings, there was the “blond bombshell” straddling the financial district bronze icon. Not only that, but she actually captured her little stunt. A woman was seen taking pictures of her with an iPhone, which makes me think she’s probably an Influencer and has a million followers. Still, so dumb, so unnecessary, and so idiotic. It really scares me knowing people will do anything to get a few likes here and there on social media because they have nothing better to do. Go read a book, lady, that will cure your boredom during the lockdown, avoid all those STD’s. This is why we can’t have nice things. Stay safe, Wall Street.
A Texas man faces federal charges after he made online posts threatening Democrats, including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, authorities said. Gavin Weslee Blake Perry, 27, of Wichita Falls, was charged Wednesday with transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce. According to federal prosecutors, Perry wrote on Facebook that Democrats, including Pelosi, “will be removed at any cost necessary and yes that means by death.” Perry remained jailed Friday and court records do not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf. Federal prosecutors said Perry admitted making the Facebook posts and that he told law enforcement he did so because he wanted to warn Americans to beware of the government. If convicted, Perry faces up to five years in prison.
An Australian teenager is inadvertently proving that his homeland should go back to being a forgotten island prison isolated from the rest of the world after he posted a video to the popular social media platform/Chinese spy tool TikTok that featured himself slapping his mom’s boobs to the beat of “Undercover Martyn” by Two Door Cinema Club. Seventeen-year-old Aiden Ridings, whose name sounds like it was generated by a Buzzfeed quiz that uses food choices to guess your name if you were born in 2003, is Gen Z’s hot new incest Influencer. Aiden and his mom, who would’ve been infinitely better off just buying him weed if she wanted to seem cool to her son this badly, filmed the video with seemingly zero reservations about what they were doing. Aiden then posted the video to TikTok and soon it made its way over to Twitter, where even the most veteran users of that perpetually horrifying platform were taken aback by this particular piece of molest-y content. I’m not pro-bullying, exactly, but Jesus I hope this kid got ridiculed into oblivion at school after he posted this. What other way is there to stop him from doing that again at this point? Clearly, his mom isn’t going to step in.
A Jack in the Box cashier in Yakima, Washington was confronted by a robber looking to score some crumpled small bills and loose car change but instead of complying and praying that the man wasn’t armed the cashier, who had apparently had a long, annoying day/week/month or whatever, very much did not comply. “You’re not robbing shit,” the cashier told the robber, later arrested and identified as 37-year-old Damian McCorkle, after the McCorkle incorrectly informed the cashier that he would be robbing the noted post-20 beer eatery. “Yeah I am. I need the money,” the McCorkle told the cashier. “I will beat your ass. You want to go outside and handle this?” the rankled cashier continued. At that, the McCorkle left the store on North First Street, as defeated as any man who has ever left any Jack in the Box has ever been. Even more so than the guy (me, at least once in my past) who has his card declined trying to pay for a four dollar order of tacos, both because he can’t afford the four dollar order and because he somehow felt the need to order 3,000 calories worth of tacos at 2:00 a.m. in the first place. When asked if he was nervous that McCorkle might be armed, the cashier claimed that it was the potential robber who seemed like the nervous one. After McCorkle was arrested he told police that he had never attempted to rob the store. He claimed that he had simply ordered food but then got into an argument with the cashier when McCorkle informed the worker that he would not be able to pay for the food. Police found a screwdriver in McCorkle’s left coat pocket and entered it into evidence. McCorkle was then booked into the Yakima County Jail on suspicion of second-degree robbery.
Instead of doing this blog thing I should be listening to this CD...
I love puppets so I wonder if it's good. So, there's a new video game you can play while you are at home, kids. Here's a screen shot...
You fail to hoard enough toilet paper! Some people are using the coronavirus as pickup lines on dating apps.
I wonder who that match voted for. The other day I mentioned Don Knotts and how being everywhere back in the day. Here's some more proof...
I wonder how many of my younger readers know who Don Knotts is. If I had a TARDIS I would probably end up in San Francisco in 1979 where gay men smashed the windows of San Francisco City Hall, with thousands rioting after Dan White received a verdict of voluntary manslaughter for the killing of Harvey Milk.
That would not be a fun time. If you need help on how to wash your hands check this out...
That's "Germs" by today's guest, "Weird Al" Yahnkovic. So I was bored and I decided to look up the word "Foghat" on Twitter to see what I could find and I saw this...
That's nice. Now for a brand new pheature called...
This Bridezilla who says people are dead to her if they don't want to risk dying from the virus.
You know I live in Florida, right? Well, there's some weird stuff that happens here...
This Florida man was just trying to help his girlfriend out. Coty Lee Havens, 26, thought Chastity Bodnar, 23, drank too much, and out of his concern for her well-being, told her as much. Well… maybe that’s what happened. Considering how Chastity responded to Coty’s lifestyle critique, it might be just as likely that Coty was tired of Chastity passing out on the couch covered in Doritos and Papa John’s garlic butter sauce and then peeing herself. Why is that generally possible? Because upon hearing that she may have a drinking problem Chastity (who was drinking at the time) became furious and responded to Coty by throwing her phone and hitting him in the throat. Then she followed him out to the garage of their Fort Pierce, Florida home, took two cans of beer, slammed them together to chug them, and proceeded to physically assault Coty. Coty later told police that Chastity had proceeded to “Stone Cold Steve Austin my ass.” Which yes, yes she did. Police later confirmed that there were indeed two crushed beer cans in the garage. Eventually, Coty was able to pin Chastity down and call the police. Chastity was arrested for misdemeanor battery. She was booked into the county jail Saturday night and released Sunday morning, free again to go full rattlesnake on anyone who dared question the way she lives her life. Coty too, however, was arrested after police arrived because for some reason he tried to fight the cops when they got there. There’s a good chance he was also drunk. Here’s hoping these two can work out there differences and fulfill their joint destiny of being that couple fighting viciously in the parking lot of a Bob Evans that other families have to tell their kids not to stare at as they hurry to their own cars and get back on the highway to Disney World.
If you spot the Mindphuck let me know. Haha.
President Donald Trump is extending the voluntary national shutdown for a month as sickness and death from the coronavirus pandemic rise in the U.S. The initial 15-day period of social distancing urged by the federal government expires today and Trump had expressed interest in relaxing the national guidelines at least in parts of the country less afflicted by the pandemic. But instead he decided to extend them through April 30th, a tacit acknowledgment he’d been too optimistic. Many states and local governments have stiffer controls in place on mobility and gatherings. Trump’s impulse to restore normalcy met a sober reality check Sunday from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, who said the U.S. could experience more than 100,000 deaths and millions of infections from the pandemic. Trump’s decision to extend the guidelines reflected a recognition that the struggle will take place over the longer haul. “I want our life back again,” the president told reporters in the Rose Garden. Brought forward by Trump at the outdoor briefing, Fauci said his projection of a potential 100,000 to 200,000 deaths is “entirely conceivable” if not enough is done to mitigate the crisis. He said that helped shape the extension of the guidelines, “a wise and prudent decision.” The federal guidelines recommend against large group gatherings and urge older people and anyone with existing health problems to stay home. People are urged to work at home when possible and avoid restaurants, bars, non-essential travel and shopping trips. The extension would leave the federal recommendations in place beyond Easter on April 12th, by which time Trump had hoped the country and its economy could start to rev up again. Alarmed public-health officials said Easter was sure to be too soon. The U.S. had more than 137,000 COVID-19 cases reported by late Sunday afternoon, with more than 2,400 deaths. Earlier Fauci told CNN, “I would say between 100,000 and 200,000 cases,” then corrected himself to say he meant deaths. “We’re going to have millions of cases.” But he added “I don’t want to be held to that” because the pandemic is “such a moving target.” One in three Americans remain under state or local government orders to stay at home to slow the spread of the virus, with schools and businesses closed and public life upended. Dr. Deborah Birx, head of the White House coronavirus task force, said parts of the country with few cases so far must prepare for what’s to come. “No state, no metro area, will be spared,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Most people who contract COVID-19 have mild or moderate symptoms, which can include fever and cough but also milder cases of pneumonia, sometimes requiring hospitalization. The risk of death is greater for older adults and people with other health problems. Hospitals in the most afflicted areas are straining to handle patients and some are short of critical supplies. Fauci’s prediction would take the death toll well past that of the average seasonal flu. Trump repeatedly cited the flu’s comparatively much higher cost in lives in playing down the severity of this pandemic. Trump had eyed a “reopening” of the U.S. economy by Easter, April 12th, but in recent days medical professionals have warned that would be far too soon for the nation’s heavily affected urban areas. Just on Saturday, Trump was discussing tightening restrictions, suggesting then backing away from an “enforceable” quarantine of hard-hit New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Instead, the White House task force recommended a travel advisory for residents of those states to limit non-essential travel to slow the spread of the virus to other parts of the U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that Trump shouldn’t be so quick to reverse the social distancing guidelines, saying more testing needs to be in place to determine whether areas currently showing fewer infections are truly at lower risk. Trump’s “denial” in the crisis was “deadly,” she told CNN. “As the president fiddles, people are dying, and we have to take every precaution,” she said. She promised a congressional investigation once the pandemic is over to determine whether Trump heeded advice from scientific experts and to answer the question that resonates through U.S. political scandals, “What did he know and when did he know it?” Trump minimized the gravity of the pandemic for weeks. Asked whether she is saying that attitude cost American lives, Pelosi said, “Yes, I am. I’m saying that.” It put Pelosi out of lockstep with former Vice President Joe Biden, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, who said he wouldn’t go so far as to lay the blame for deaths on the president. “I think that’s a little too harsh,” he told NBC. Biden faulted Trump for holding back on using his full powers under the recently invoked Defense Production Act to spur the manufacture of the full range of needed medical supplies... and for making erratic statements about the pandemic. “He should stop thinking out loud and start thinking deeply,” Biden said. Meanwhile, governors in other hotspots across the country were raising alarm that the spread of the virus was threatening their health-care systems. “We remain on a trajectory, really, to overwhelm our capacity to deliver health care,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said on ABC’s “This Week.” “By the end of the first week in April, we think the first real issue is going to be ventilators. And we think it’s about the fourth or fifth of April before, down in the New Orleans area, we’re unable to put people on ventilators who need them. And then several days later, we will be out of beds.” He said officials have orders out for more than 12,000 ventilators through the national stockpile and private vendors, but so far have only been able to get 192.
The 118th book to be pheatured in the Phile's Book Club is...
I'm so excited. Booker T. Jones will be the guest on the Phile on Wednesday. Now for some...
Phact 1. During the production of Star Wars, Peter Cushing found Grand Moff Tarkin’s boots, furnished by the wardrobe department, to be very uncomfortable. George Lucas agreed to limit shots where Cushing’s feet would be visible, allowing him to wear his own slippers.
Phact 2. In 1930, a goalie named Abie Goldberry caught fire during a game when a puck hit a pack of matches he was carrying in his pocket. He was badly burned before his teammates put out the fire.
Phact 3. There was a massive ancient civilization in Illinois. In 1250 the lost city of Cahokia was larger than London. Today more than 120 massive earthen mounds are still located on the site.
Phact 4. Of the past 14 U.S. presidents, 6 have been left-handed and one ambidextrous. Out of the total general population, only 10% is left-handed. Records of presidential handedness prior to President Hoover are unreliable because up until that point left-handedness was still considered a disability.
Phact 5. Samsung now has 489,000 employees and its revenue is equal to 17% of South Korea’s GDP.
Today's guest is a Phile Alum who is an American musical comedian whose humorous songs make light of popular culture and often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts; original songs that are style pastiches of the work of other acts; and polka medleys of several popular songs, featuring his favored instrument, the accordion. Please welcome back to the Phile... "Weird Al" Yankovic!
Me: Hey, Al, welcome back to the Phile. How are you?
Al: I am great. It's great to be back, Jason.
Me: So, you have been touring and playing music for such a long time now, Al, do you remember your very first show?
Al: The first show I think there may have been 13 people in the audience. It was just scattered people hanging out going, "Oh, well, I guess that's 'Weird' Al."
Me: So, when did you finally catch on?
Al: It took awhile before we finally caught on. When we first started touring we were the opening act for Doctor Demento, the guy who discovered me as you know. I remember the next year is when "Eat It" hit and right in the middle of that tour it went from me opening for Doctor Memento to Doctor Demento opening for me. All of a sudden I was a big MTV star with a Top 40 hit and the dynamic changed a little bit.
Me: Didn't you open up for the Missing Person's at one point?
Al: Well, just one show. Exactly one show. That was before my first tour, that was in 1982. It was a traumatic experience because I love Missing Persons. They were fun new wave group and I thought their audience would love to hear a whole accordion based song parodies about food. That was not the case. We got pelted with literally anything that wasn't nailed down. Everything got thrown at us for 45 minutes. It wasn't really a positively affirming kind of event.
Me: After that happened did you want to give up? What did you think?
Al: Kinda. I thought maybe I shouldn't be an opening act for a while. Even if there's only 13 people in the audience I want them there to see me. One of the particular things I remember about that night as soon as the curtain went down my whole band was on the floor trying to pick up the spare change that was thrown at us. "I've got two bucks worth of change here!"
Me: So, I have to tell you, I don't think I did last time you were here. I play kazoo and you play the accordion... wouldn't that be a great band?
Al: Those are in the top five most annoying instruments for sure.
Me: So, why the accordion, Al? It helped you get popular with some friends, right?
Al: Yeah, I don't know if I was being calculated about it but I started getting interested in rock and roll after I stopped taking accordion lessons because when I took accordion lessons they taught me classical pieces and polka, that's about it. But I was interested in rock so I would play along to my Elton John albums and learn the rock chord progressions. When I was in college I would belt out rock songs on the accordion. Some people thought it was amusing that I was playing rock and roll on the accordion. Some people honestly were liking the way it sounded. I don't know if it made me popular but who knows for sure.
Me: One of your first recordings was recorded in a bathroom, am I right?
Al: Yes, this would be "My Bologna," we recorded it again for my first album but the original version got released as a single for Capitol Records and this would have been the end of 1979. Holy cow. This was literally recorded in the bathroom across the hall from my campus radio station.
Me: Didn't anybody come in and interrupt the recording?
Al: It was during the summer so the bathroom wasn't really getting used a lot thankfully. I didn't have to push anybody away from the urinals.
Me: I read that the bathroom was called Studio 229. Why is that?
Al: Because the number 229 was above the door. It was a place disc jockeys would sometimes go to to fake like live remotes. "We're out in the hall..." It would have this nice reverb effect.
Me: "My Sharona" was a big hit for the Knack but they were never able to follow up on that hit. You parodied it and then released 14 albums and win a bunch of Grammys. In some ways you have a much longer career than some artists you parodied. Why do you think that is?
Al: It's hard to say. I'm very lucky and very grateful that's the case. There's no telling. It's really pretty ironic because nobody wanted to sign me to a record deal back in the early 80s because I do was is ostensibly novelty music. And the implication there is one hit wonder. People who have funny song hits on the radio you never hear from the again. They're a foot note in rock music history. So people thought "this is really funny, really brilliant stuff, but yeah, we're interested in artists that are going to have longevity and be here for a while. It's really quite odd that I've been able to hang on as long as I have.
Me: When did you realize that everything was beginning to start to work out? Do you remember when things started to get out of control?
Al: I don't know about "out of control," I'll tell you I quit my day job the day that I found out that one of my songs was on the Billboard Hot 100, They signed me to a record deal, and this was at the time a 10-album deal which was sort of like nobody thought I was going to have 10 albums, let alone 14, but it was more like a Draconian thing where in some kind of crazy situation where "Weird Al" Yankovic would have 10 albums, it's like, "we've got you." Nobody thought that was going to happen so of course I signed the deal. It's better than working in the mail room. They didn't give me a big pile of money, it's not like I signed the record deal and "hers's your big pile of cash." It was just sort of okay, now get to work. I was still working in the mail room for minimum wage and at the same time I just put out my first album. It was when my first single hit the charts I thought I'd probably have to get serious about this "Weird Al" thing.
Me: How was that conversation when you told your boss you had to quit because your record is getting big?
Al: They knew that I had the record deal and when I finally gave notice I think they understood and everybody was like, "Well, good luck with that."
Me: Haha. So, you made a movie in 1989 called UHF, which I've never seen as I was living in England at the time and I don't think it played where I was living. Anyway, Siskel and Ebert, who I used to like their show "At the Movies" panned UHF big time. I'm not bringing this up to be rude, Al, but I was wondering if you learnt soemthig through criticism because things like that? I would of been upset if that was me...
Al: Well, one thing I learnt in live is never run over Gene Siskel's or Robert Ebert's dog with a car because that was probably my first mistake. It was a hard lesson to learn. The movie was universally hated by the critics and not a lot of people saw it because it came out in the middle of one of the biggest blockbuster summers in history. UHF really got popular in the later when it started to play on cable TV and people started to discover it. When it came out on DVD ten years later it was a top ten best selling DVD so it took a while to find its audience. But the big lesson there was I would realize my career would have breaks and valleys. I can't get too full of myself at a peak or too depressed at a valley. My wife and I have the same thought, be the climate not the weather. Ride along with it and don't get too caught up in myself and keep an even keel. That was what that taught me.
Me: Did you ever get depressed over the years about stuff, Al?
Al: I never got seriously depressed but that was definitely a low point for me. Ebert said in his written review of the movie something like "these days we have to treasure the early amused."
Me: I got the quote here as a matter of fact... "But this is the dreariest comedy in many a month, a depressing slog through recycled comic formulas. Those who laugh at UHF should inspire our admiration; in these dreary times we must treasure the easily amused." You were very close. Did you ever run into any of them afterwards?
Al: Ummmmm. I don't believe so. I don't think I met either one of them face to face.
Me: Okay, I want to give you a positive review or comment about you. Sasha Frere-Jones, who writes for The New Yorker wrote, “'Weird Al' has been cool for so long because pop makes everybody feel uncool; that he is the only one to admit it has made him a pop star.” What do you make of that?
Al: That's an interesting take, I'll go along with that. I've always been the guy on the outside of the inner circle, kind of poking fun at the people on the inside. I think maybe not everybody, but I think a lot of people kind of feel that way. The pop people or the cool kids, I'm just this nerdy geeky guy, this is not a part of me, these are not my people. There's always something fun taking people down a notch.
Me: Is it odd for you to feel like an outsider?
Al: It becomes a little more odd when I'm going to the same award shows or having out at the same party as the people I'm poking fun at. So yeah, it does, the guys get a little gray after a while.
Me: So, have you ever had to speak to the performer or singer and were nervous they would say no if you wanted to parody their song?
Al: I always try to do it through the normal route which is usually my manager talk to the bands manager, or publicist or agent whatever. We try to get clearance that way. But there was one band my manager said, "They're not returning any of my phone calls, I know you want to do this, your dead lines are approaching, so if you really want this it's on you." He doesn't do that often but on occasion he's like "I tried, it's not working, you got to do it." Basically then I have to stalk somebody. It turns out a friend of mine was on "Saturday Night Live" and I said, "If you ever get in a room alone with Kurt Cobain put him on the phone because I got to talk to him." That's what happened, I got to talk directly to Kurt, the first time he was on "Saturday Night Live" and I said, "Hey, Kurt, it's 'Weird Al' Yankovic and I'd love to do a parody of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit.' His first line was, "Is it gonna be about food?" I was sort of known of doing the food parody thing. "Why, actually it's going to be a song about why nobody can understand your lyrics." There was this pause at the end of the line and he said, "Yeah, okay, that's funny." That was it.
Me: He did have a point, Al, what's with all the food songs?
Al: I don't know. I guess I was obsessed with food in the early 80s. I just came off being a starving artist so maybe food was on my mind. I don't know.
Me: I like "Rye or the Kaiser" myself. I recently had Dave Bickler on the Phile, who was in Survivor and sang "Eye of the Tiger." I should have asked him what his thought of your parody of that song. Do you know?
Al: I think he liked it. People say I predicted the Rocky sequels because at some point Rocky winds ups actually owning and working in a restaurant. So it was kind of prophetic in a way.
Me: You should get credit, right?
Al: I should. I should get royalties.
Me: I was thinking, you didn't have to ask Cobain for permission. Parodies are protected by law so why do you feel you have to get "permission"?
Al: I could get away with it, the courts tend to protect parody in courts of law, but I just don't want people to be upset with me, I don't want writers or artists to feel that I have taken advantage of them. Also from a practical anybody could sue anybody for any reason at any time, whether they have legal reason to do so or not. I just don't want to be put in a position where I'm going to be worried if somebody is gonna come after me. I'd rather people be in on the joke and it's a poke in the ribs, not a kick in the butt was I like to call it.
Me: Do you ever feel nervousness about if they would say yes or no to you?
Al: Well, always, because if they say no then I'm done, I'll back away and I am not going to do that parody. Obviously I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't something I really, really wanted to do. I kind of feel in instances like that my career is sort of in someone's hand. It's a very powerless kind of moment, it's not very pleasant.
Me: Do people still say no?
Al: It happens very rarely, it happened on occasion. I'm trying to think of a recent example. The most recent example, and this was not the artist, but the record company... back when I did "White and Nerdy" I also wanted to do a parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" called "You're Pitiful." I think James Blunt signed off on it early on but then his record label at the time had problems for it whatever reason and they said, "We don't want you to do this." That was unusual because usually when I do a parody the original artist actually sells more copies of their record because it's cross promotion. Whatever reason they said no and my record label didn't want to get into a big war with his record label so I walked away from it. That was one of those rare instances.
Me: Are their any parodies you regret doing?
Al: Well, there's some parodies I like more than others. The one that jumps to mind is a song on my third album which I was basically forced to do by my record label. I did it under a sort of duress. I had "Like A Surgeon" on that album and I thought that's going to be the hit single on my record. The label was like, "Maybe, Madonna's pretty big, but we're not gonna put out this album unless you do a Cyndi Lauper parody." Okay. What? Really? They wanted me to do "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." I loved the song but really didn't want to do a parody and again under duress I did, "Girls Just Wanna Have Lunch." Which was really just by the book a really dumb food parody song. You can hear it in my voice, "I just really don't want to do this song but they're making me do this song." That's on the album and the label went, "Maybe you're right."
Me: Al, thanks so much for being back on the Phile. Please come back again. Stay safe.
Al: Oh, my pleasure, thank you.
That's about it for this entry of the Phile. Thanks to my guest "Weird Al." The Phile will be back tomorrow with Killer Mike. Spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye. Stay indoors.
I don't want you, cook my bread, I don't want you, make my bed, I don't want your money too, I just want to make love to you. - Willie Dixon
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