Medical Conditions: Mr. Frump in the Iron Lung

Weird Al Yankovic: Mr. Frump in the Iron Lung

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Sometimes when I see the theme for a given week here at the Machine, a rush of creativity hits me and my head is filled with songs. I'm overcome with insightful and poignant things to say and songs to fulfill those thoughts.

With a theme like this, you would think this would be one of those times. There are tons of songs about diseases and mortality. Songs that are themselves both insightful and poignant and speak to some of our deepest fears of becoming aged and infirm. Moving songs that can bring the listener to tears by reminding them of loved ones who have suffered and passed.

I thought about all of those songs this week... and still chose "Mr. Frump in the Iron Lung" by Weird Al. Enjoy.

Long Songs: Weird Al Edition

Weird Al Yankovic: Albuquerque

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Weird Al Yankovic: Genius in France

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Weird Al Yankovic: Trapped in the Drive-Thru

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Recently, Weird Al Yankovic has taken to ending each of his albums with ridiculously long songs that are possibly even more absurd than his usual fare. If you have a half-hour or so to spare, I'd like to share those songs with you here.

The trend began with "Albuquerque" from 1999's Running with Scissors. The song is basically one large tangential rant involving rabid weasels, hermaphrodites, Leonard Nimoy's butt, and a lucky snorkel. All of these things are mentioned only to drive home the point that Al hates sauerkraut.

Did I mention that these songs might be a bit absurd?

Al followed that exercise with "Genius in France" from 2003's Poodle Hat. This time Al pays tribute to the late Frank Zappa with a track that jumps around from style to style with tons of dynamic shifts to an intentionally unsettling effect. Frank's son Dweezil Zappa plays the guitar intro to the song.

Finally... from 2006's Straight Outta Lynnwood... comes "Trapped in the Drive-Thru." If you've ever seen any of R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" videos, then this one needs no further explanation.

Kudos to any of you who can make it through all three of these.

Leftovers (The Music Biz): Don't Download This Song

Weird Al Yankovic: Don't Download This Song

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I was here for The Music Biz week back at the end of September, and I enjoyed the songs and hearing what various artists thought about various aspects of the music industry. The song I'm sharing today wasn't really relevant back then, but I think it is now.

Back in September, I felt that I was really starting to get the hang of this whole blogging thing. I was feeling a rush of creativity and tons of post ideas in my head and music I wanted to share. I even carried a notebook around with me at work so I could record any ideas as they came to me so I wouldn't lose them. I sat in restaurants with my notebook, writing entire posts on my lunch break. I had blog fever.

Then something happened.

Songs and posts started disappearing. Blogs were shut down or had to relocate. Regular contributors to this site either stopped contributing or greatly reduced their output... myself included. Even at my own site, I put up less than half as many posts in November as I had in any other month since I started writing in July. Suddenly blogging isn't as much fun. There's a cloud that hangs over the community now as more and more songs continue to disappear from my site (two more yesterday) and others.

On his 2006 release, Straight Outta Lynwood, Weird Al Yankovic addressed the issue of music piracy on the track "Don't Download This Song." It's a bit of a shot at those who used free peer to peer services such as Napster and the millionaire artists who fought against them such as Lars Ulrich. In the song, Al compares piracy to "selling crack and running over school kids with your car." I'm starting to think that certain record labels actually now view bloggers in the same way.

Al's song is obviously tongue in cheek and filled with the type of ridiculous over exaggerations that Al often uses in his music. However, I thought it might be appropriate to share here. I know none of us consider ourselves pirates or criminals... just music fans who want to share the music we love with others. I'm not sure what my point is. I guess I'm just frustrated, and Weird Al always makes me laugh.

Edit: Just after I posted this, I received a notice from blogger that I have had another post removed. I may just not do this anymore.

Work: Weird Al

Weird Al Yankovic: Dog Eat Dog

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Weird Al Yankovic: Callin' In Sick

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Yeah. That's right. Weird Al.

Just for fun, here are two tracks from an artist I absolutely idolized as a kid. I still buy his new albums for a bit of nostalgic indulgence. You want to judge me? That's fine. I'm posting them anyway.

Of course, Al is known mostly for his parodies of hit songs, but he also writes original tunes too. Here are two of Al's originals that deal with the plight of the working man.

The first, "Dog Eat Dog," comes from the 1986 release Polka Party. In it, Al channels David Byrne in a Talking Heads style rant against corporate America.

"Callin' In Sick" is from 1997's Bad Hair Day and pays tribute to a time honored tradition in the work place... calling in sick to play hooky from work. Al details all of the strange and slightly gross things he plans to do with his day off.