"Weird Al" covers by parody subjects?

July 16, 2014 3:28 PM

Has any subject of a "Weird Al" Yankovic parody ever done a cover of their parody song in concert? Like, has Devo ever performed "Dare to be Stupid"?
posted by Small Dollar to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

According to Wikipedia's Weird Al page: "The Presidents of the United States of America were so pleased with "Gump", Yankovic's parody of their song "Lump", that they ended the song with his last line instead of their own ("And that's all I have to say about that") on the live recording of "Lump" featured on the compilation album Pure Frosting."
posted by Melismata at 3:30 PM on July 16, 2014

According to this Chicago Tribune article from 1999, Don McLean has (once? by mistake?!?) inadvertently substituted the words to "American Pie" with the words from Yankovic's "The Saga Begins". Which is a heck of an endorsement even if it isn't 100% true.
posted by mosk at 3:52 PM on July 16, 2014

Billy Joel has covered "Still Billy Joel To Me"
(He even did a very solid impression of Weird Al Yankovic's nasally parody It's Still Billy Joel To Me. Talk about meta.)
Link
posted by bleep at 4:05 PM on July 16, 2014

She didn't sing it as far as I know, but the story I heard was that Madonna put him up to recording Like A Surgeon.
posted by IndigoJones at 4:38 PM on July 16, 2014

It's not exactly what you're asking for, but "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*" features Dire Straits members Mark Knopfler on guitar and Guy Fletcher on synthesizer, playing their original parts. As far as I know, that's the most official musical involvement of the original band. I also consulted a big Weird Al fan and she didn't know of any. You might try asking at http://www.weirdalforum.com/ or https://twitter.com/alyankovic .
posted by wnissen at 6:03 PM on July 16, 2014

Apparently Chamillionnaire thanked Weird Al for doing "White and Nerdy" because it conferred pop culture legitimacy on his work, thus helping it win a Grammy.
posted by carmicha at 6:12 PM on July 16, 2014

I saw a Presidents of the United States of America concert last year and can confirm they end "Lump" with the "Gump" quote. Now when my band covers Lump, we do the same.
posted by Jon_Evil at 12:50 AM on July 17, 2014