Weird Al recently spoke with Reuters about his new album and the initial controversy with Lady Gaga -
The pop singer's manager had initially refused permission for Yankovic to release "Perform This Way," but Yankovic says things changed once Gaga herself heard the song.
He Added -"Even though her manager was presenting it as such, she had never once approached Gaga, so it was news to her when people were ... asking, 'How come you're not letting Weird Al do his parody?'" Yankovic told Billboard.com. "She was not aware of it at all, and when she actually did hear the song she loved it and gave me permission."
"This is unfortunately not an isolated incident over the course of my career...I find it's better, whenever possible, to go directly to an artist and deal with them personally, but as it turns out I didn't happen to have Lady Gaga's home phone number or e-mail address."
Yankovic did hasten the process by posting the song on YouTube during the negotiations -- but only, he says, because it was the first time a manager had insisted on hearing an actual recording rather than simply reviewing a lyric sheet.
"I'd never done that before," he said. "I figured if you already have the lyrics, if you don't find those offensive then you're not going to find it offensive when you hear the fully produced version of it -- which is why I was kind of knocked for a loop when the answer we got back was 'no.'"
Now, however, the battle is history. Yankovic is a Gaga fan --
"I think she's a huge talent -- a great songwriter and a wonderful performer..." -- and the Gaga camp also gave him permission to use her "Poker Face" in a medley called "Polka Face" that appears on his new album "Alpocalypse," Due out June 21.
"Perform This Way" gave him a hook on which to hang the new album.
"I had the 11 other tracks in the can for close to a year," Yankovic said, "and I was waiting for the right lead-off single. I've come to learn over the course of my career that my albums are more successful if they are released concurrently with a single that's very topical and maybe celebrates a pop culture event of serious magnitude. I thought that Lady Gaga, and specifically her new album and single, was a sufficiently large event. I thought Gaga had sufficiently rocked the zeitgeist enough for me to make that choice."
The album also includes parodies of Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" ("TMZ"), Miley Cyrus' "Party in the U.S.A." ("Party in the CIA," also timely in the wake of the Osama Bin Laden assassination), B.o.B's "Nothin' On You" ("Another Tattoo") and T.I.'s "Whatever You Like," with the same title. Yankovic also recorded stylistic homages to the White Stripes ("CNR"), Queen ("Ringtone") and the Doors ("Craigslist," with the group's Ray Manzarek guesting on keyboards).
