This summer, the world finally caught up with “Weird Al” Yankovic.
His unique brand of spot-on parody (and the occasional polka track) has been consistently enjoyable for more than three decades, but it took the era of Facebook and viral videos to finally deliver him a #1 album.
He promoted that album, Mandatory Fun, through a daily release of YouTube clips and the fans took it from there.
I say “fans” though it’s likely that many of those who spread those clips around had never heard of Yankovic. But in the age of random YouTubers who become overnight celebrities thanks to a clever lip-synch, prior popularity doesn’t really matter.
This week I’ll post five of ‘Weird Al”s new clips, starting with ‘Word Crimes,’ his take on Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines.’ This song is a gift to copy editors and English teachers everywhere.
Everybody shut up (woo!)
Everyone listen up!
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey
[Verse 1]
If you can’t write in the proper way
If you don’t know how to conjugate
Maybe you flunked that class
And maybe now you find
That people mock you online
[Bridge]
Okay, now here’s the deal
I’ll try to educate ya
Gonna familiarize
You with the nomenclature
You’ll learn the definitions
Of nouns and prepositions
Literacy’s your mission
[Chorus]
And that’s why I think it’s a good time
To learn some grammar
Now, did I stammer
Work on that grammar
You should know when
It’s “less” or it’s “fewer”
Like people who were
Never raised in a sewer
I hate these word crimes
Like “I could care less”
That means you do care
At least a little
Don’t be a moron
You’d better slow down
And use the right pronoun
Show the world you’re no clown
[Verse 2]
Say you got an “it”
Followed by apostrophe, “s”
Now, what does that mean?
You would not use “it’s” in this case
As a possessive
It’s a contraction
What’s a contraction?
Well, it’s the shortening of a word or a group of words
By omission of a sound or letter
[Bridge]
Okay, now here’s some notes
Syntax you’re always mangling
No X in “Espresso”
Your participle’s danglin’
But I don’t want your drama
If you really wanna
Leave out that Oxford comma
[Chorus]
Just keep in mind that
“be”, “see”, “are”, “you”
Are words, not letters
Get it together
Use your spellchecker
You should never
Write words using numbers
Unless you’re seven
Or your name is Prince
I hate these word crimes
You really need a
Full-time proofreader
You dumb mouthbreather
Well, you should hire
Some cunning linguist
To help you distinguish
What is proper English
[Verse 3]
One thing I ask of you
Time to learn your homophones is past due
Learn to diagram a sentence too
Always say “To whom”
Don’t ever say “To who”
And listen up when I tell you this
I hope you never use quotation marks for emphasis
You finished second grade
I hope you can tell
If you’re doing good or doing well
Figure out the difference
Irony is not coincidence
And I thought that you’d gotten it through your skull
About what’s figurative and what’s literal
Oh, but, just now, you said
You “literally couldn’t get out of bed”
That really makes me want to literally
Smack a crowbar upside your stupid head
[Chorus]
I read your e-mail
It’s quite apparent
Your grammar’s errant
You’re incoherent
Saw your blog post
It’s really fantastic
That was sarcastic (Oh, psych!)
’Cause you write like a spastic
I hate these Word Crimes
Your prose is dopey
Think you should only
Write in emoji
Oh, you’re a lost cause
Go back to pre-school
Get out of the gene pool
Try your best to not drool
[Outro]
Never mind, I give up
Really now, I give up
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey
Go Away!
It really is amazing that he has sustained a career since I was a teenager, but, with spot on parodies like this one, it’s really not all that surprising.
I love this one, as does my English teacher wife.😄
YES!!! Weird Al’s new album is absolutely amazing!!! This is probably the best one on there, but all the songs are great. Weird Al Yankovic is so great and I’m glad to see that he’s only gotten more clever and talented with time… 🙂
This is so wonderful 🙂
Super popular at our house!