I’m Pitiful
Yankovic recorded the song to be included on his Straight Outta Lynwood album after, according to Yankovic, having been given Blunt’s blessing to parody the song. However, following its recording, Blunt’s record company, Atlantic Records, allegedly told Yankovic that he could not include the song. (When asked by NPR, Atlantic had no official comment on the matter.)
Yankovic has a history of obtaining songwriters’ approval prior to releasing his parodies, with the exception of a miscommunication surrounding “Amish Paradise,” a parody of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise”. However, Yankovic told NPR that this was the first time a record label has quashed a release of one of his parodies. “[I]f James Blunt himself were objecting,” Yankovic told NPR, “I wouldn’t even offer my parody for free on my Web site. But since it’s a bunch of suits — who are actually going against their own artist’s wishes — I have absolutely no problem with it.”
Yankovic told NPR in an e-mail that the question of whether Atlantic could legally forbid the parody, given the United States Supreme Court’s 1994 Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. decision recognizing parody as fair use, is “moot,” saying that the issue was “more of a political matter than a legal matter,” suggesting that both Blunt and Volcano (Yankovic’s label) would wish to avoid alienating Atlantic.
As mentioned, Yankovic released the song for free distribution on the Internet and it has become popular on The Dr. Demento Show. [via Wikipedia]
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6 Comments
Robert Oschler
August 20th, 2006
at 7:31am
Hey Chris,
Speaking of parodies, here’s one you might like. It’s called “My PC Is On Fire!” and it parodies the Numa Numa Video song “Ma Ya Hi”, the English version of “Dragostea Din Tei”, using the exploding Dell laptop as lyrical fodder. The animation is remixed video footage from the stunning Elephants Dream project; a Creative Commons project by the people who make Blender. Have fun!:
http://www.spokenring.com/numa-numa-english.php
It’s Not Geek Enough » Blog Archive » You’re Peutiful
August 21st, 2006
at 4:18pm
[...] I was on the tube today listening to my Podcasts when the playlist came to Chris Pirillo Show. Suddenly I heard an intro to a song I know very well (and happen to like it too). It’s from James Blunt’s ‘You’re Beatiful’. I thought, what the …, Chris’s playing a licensed song ? It can’t be … until I heard the first sentence, and I couldn’t stop ‘laughing’ from then on. I mean L.O.L, well not that loud otherwise people on the tube would think I was mad. I checked Chris’s blog when I got home, it turned out that it was made by this chap called ‘Yankovic’, which unfortunately I’ve never heard before. It seems that he’s done already a few parodies of songs, videos and even website You can download the mp3 from Chris’ place or straight Weird Al’s site. [...]
Feh
May 9th, 2007
at 10:28am
Visited here for the first time to hear the Weird Al song, which is good, but am a little surprised. Do you often just paste Wikipedia articles into your blog? That’s a little more than “via Wikipedia”; that’s outright copy > pasting. Where’s the added value? Not even commentary? Nothing?
What are your advertisers paying for? I won’t be back. I can surf Wikipedia on my own, thanks.
Non Existing Nonsense
May 9th, 2007
at 2:49pm
click and listen
Non Existing Nonsense
May 9th, 2007
at 2:49pm
click and listen
Satellite TV & Radio
November 23rd, 2007
at 2:19am
My Own MySpace MusicXM Holiday Music ChannelsInterview with Steven PageDave Dederer on the New Business of MusicDo You Own the Music, or Does the RIAA?Napster = Free MusicR.E.M. Debuts Song on YouTubeI m PitifulWeekly Show 27 January 2005 Hour 3I Steal Music!!! [IMG] [IMG] [IMG] [IMG] Sat, 17 Nov 2007 21:55:36 EST DirecTV Serial Control Utility Engadget HD Podcast 055 - 10.23.2007 Filed under: Podcasts[IMG ]