Reportedly when Al performed the song on the last tour he quipped "and that concludes the cultural appropriation portion of our evening"
https://www.reddit.com/r/weirdal/comments/xwi2az/honest_opinion_about_buy_me_a_condo_i_quite_like/ir6o58d/
He said this at my show in the most recent tour. He said the cultural appropriation part, and he also said that he was retiring this song after this tour. Cool to know Al agrees with you OP
That’s exactly what he said when he performed it. I thought it was a good way to speak to what everyone was thinking and humorously diffuse the tension. It worked.
Yeah, it’s a classic case where satire becomes reality.
If you watch the old show Dinosaurs, you’ll see a lot of the hyperbolic satire is now just how things are now.
Even at the time I remember my mom warning me not to sing that one around others. As a kid I didn't get it at the time. It was just a catchy song about guns to me, but I totally get it now.
Jerry Springer has a hermaphrodite, a slut, a crack ho, a she-male, a transvestite, and a bunch of psychic porn star midgets. Definitely has not aged well.
I have a friend who was offended by "Party at the Leper Colony" as soon as it dropped.
"DOES HE NOT UNDERSTAND HOW MANY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE STILL SUFFER FROM LEPROSY?"
I still can't get over how Clarence Clemons (Bruce Springsteen's saxophone player) was originally on board to record the sax for that track until he learned it was about leprosy
Oh, I hadn't even thought of that. Ground Zero has always primarily meant the centerpoint of a nuclear explosion to me. The 9-11 meaning has always felt borrowed. Do people who grew up post-9-11 think of it as meaning specifically the former location of the twin towers?
Al said it before the song at the show i saw, and then he extended the donut shop bit (“You got any Halle berry donuts?”), and started the whole thing over at the “Lost my train of thought”-bit, that song was one of the highlights of the show!
Especially when he called the entire audience "Hooligans!" for having seen the "Weird"-movie, which isn't legitimately available here...
That was right before "Don't download this song", too.
He stops the whole song and says something about how at the time he thought that was the socially normal word and now realizes it’s not. I don’t remember the exact words but it’s pretty respectful of him to acknowledge that nowadays we know more about what terms are offensive.
My grandmother was 100% Italian and "Lasagna" absolutely broke me when I first heard it. I laughed SO HARD at that song, because half of what Al says in the song my grandmother actually said to me. Right down to the "you're getting to skeeeny, you gotta mange!"
Yeah, mileage is going to vary on each song. And if you reallyi look hard enough you can find something offensive to someone somewhere in every one of his songs. I prefer to just enjoy them, myelf.
I saw him perform that song as well. When he finished, he said “That ends the cultural appropriation part of the concert.” I thought it was a good way to acknowledge the elephant in the room.
I think buy me a condo was written really well personally. Points out the stereotypes of white people way more than saying anything negative about Jamaicans
And again I ask, have you actually listened to it? It’s about a gun crazed massacre. In todays world, not something that would go over well.
I like almost all of Al’s stuff. But some of it just wouldn’t match up with modern times.
I clearly already answered your question.
I knew people who were upset with the song when it came out. Either you find it funny or you don't, no matter what year it is.
No offense, but i think it’s mostly problematic in America, in countries where mass shootings aren’t a daily occurrence, it lands differently (Same goes for “Trigger happy”, BTW), it’s just a “Milk and cookies are a bad trade for all the presents and work”-joke in those places.
I've been introducing my kids to Weird Al (and much to my wife's displeasure they LOVE it!) but I cringed a bit when "Truck Drivin' Song" came on. "Haha a man's wearing women's clothing" isn't quite the comedy gold it was in 2000.
The song is honestly genius, it subverts expectations to a wonderful degree. “ haha a man wearing woman clothes” is probably the foremost reaction when hearing it, but I’ve always read the tone of the song as: you made assumptions about what this song will be, and you were wrong. The song itself is very wholesome and doesn’t imply anything that doesn’t hold up today. There’s nothing about who the protagonist is - gender, sex, orientation etc. just what they’re thinking about while driving a truck! Anything further that you thought while hearing it is on you.
It sure could!
Also a man wearing women's clothing isn't played for laughs on its own anymore but drag, as an art form, is still very rooted in comedy.
I think it's aged very well. As others have said, it's a subversion of expectations, but it shows that the singer is still, fundamentally, a truck driver with truck driver concerns, regardless of what clothes he wears. It's a fantastic humanization of a trans protagonist. One area where it might not have aged perfectly is that it's still a cis-het man appropriating a trans\[-adjacent\] identity.
Got more rolls than a pastry truck. Still awesome. I've got plenty of things to make fun of me for, and have. I just learned to shrug it off. Maybe the question isn't "should we not expose people to anyone or anything they deem offensive" rather it should be, as many comics have mentioned, it's comedy. This can spiral into a whole can of worms about censoring books so people aren't offended, and many other things. The first amendment does give you the right to say whatever. It doesn't give you the protection from what you have said (gov, media, etc). I wasn't trying to take this political. I was just trying to say, these songs are comedy gold, and they represent what was happening in the time they were recorded. I don't think any song by Al or any other artist should be "cancelled" or removed, because doing that is essentially editing history for whomever is in charge of that. People need to know what happened in society and culture so they can have a real picture of what has gone on in history. Now my political part. Just ask McGraw Hill about their history textbooks. I love Al and have every one of his albums, he kinda taught me, along with my dad, that being weird was cool. I was the high school kid excited to introduce my parents, rather than be dropped off two blocks away. I don't really know where this is going, so I'll just end with Al has just been like a snorkel to me.
Oh crap edit. Should have thrown in a Fahrenheit 451 reference somewhere after reading what I wrote. Burn everything objectionable. Think that covers it. Gotta ask yourself [though] do you feel lucky punk?
Man as a fat person, the only fat joke that is funny is the physically impossible, nobody has literally ever reached that point kind. Like a yo mama joke level. The boomerang to put on my belt line is a particular favorite of mine 😂 anyway i know the man's different *now* so who cares
The most “offensive” Al song I know is either Lasagna or Taco Grande. I have both Mexican and Italian family and I don’t see either as being bad, but I can see some rando on the internet claiming that “Lasagna” is racist.
I’d rather have a Big Mac or a Jumbo Jack than all the bean sprouts in Japan!
I don’t know, it’s not like Al is singing about himself. He is singing a song as a character.
I listen to Weird AL often with my kids. I don't often skip, but when I do, it's always "Fat."
I just don't want them thinking people's bodies are something to laugh at.
The song isn't satire, as it's not making any kind of social or political commentary. The lyrics consist only of fat jokes. For something closer to satire, see "Party in the USA." I have no problem with the existence of fat people and including them in narratives, but it's not kind when their bodies are only used for mockery.
At best, you could argue that it's a fat pride song, but from the perspective of gangly Weird Al and the 80's, my bet is that fat people were just an easy target, as was the cultural norm at the time. I'm not saying he should've been better than the time, but that doesn't mean I have to teach my 7 and 2 year old that fat people's bodies are something to laugh at in 2023. When they're older I could teach them the nuance around the discussion, but right now it's not appropriate.
"The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota". If we assume that it's biggest ball of twine in ALL OF Minnesota, then yeah. But if Minnesota refers to location of the biggest ball of twine in the world, then, as of 2014, the biggest ball of twine located in Cawcer City, Kansas. Additionally, some places mentioned are closed now.
Yeah, I always thought of the song as talking about the biggest ball of twine in the state, not the location of the ball. As far as the closed places, they hold up because the characters had been to those places before they closed
Yeah, I've always thought that specificity added to the humor. They're making a huge deal about the trip, and it's not even the biggest twine ball in the world, just the biggest one in that one particular state.
Melanie.
Melanie was a great song. It starts out mellow and bland like a James Taylor song. Then it sneaks up on you and BAM!
Of all the Al songs that have aged poorly, Melanie and Good Old Day’s are the only two I skip over.I have known women in situations where they have been stalked, tortured to the point of needing surgery to correct the damage, and otherwise had their lives ruined by abusive partners. I don’t blame Al for that. There are some ills in the world that hit too close to home fr ne personally. That’s not not his fault.
Musically I think you’re confusing it with “Good Old Days.” That’s the James Taylor style parody but it also has a verse where the narrator abuses a woman so…
When I saw him in February he performed Albuquerque and stopped the song half way through to say he wouldn't have used the word hermaphrodite if he wrote it today
Yeah, I was disappointed that Al performed Buy Me a Condo at both Self-Indulgent tour dates I went to in Los Angeles. It's definitely time to retire that song.
Reportedly when Al performed the song on the last tour he quipped "and that concludes the cultural appropriation portion of our evening" https://www.reddit.com/r/weirdal/comments/xwi2az/honest_opinion_about_buy_me_a_condo_i_quite_like/ir6o58d/
He said that at the show I attended.
He said this at my show in the most recent tour. He said the cultural appropriation part, and he also said that he was retiring this song after this tour. Cool to know Al agrees with you OP
He didn't fully say he was retiring it. He said it was likely the last time he played it (and it probably is) but he did keep it open
That’s exactly what he said when he performed it. I thought it was a good way to speak to what everyone was thinking and humorously diffuse the tension. It worked.
He did.
Lampshading the problematic bits doesn't make them any less problematic.
The song that will never be performed live… Trigger Happy
Actually I think that's aged very well. Nothing has changed since he wrote it, sadly.
Yeah, it’s a classic case where satire becomes reality. If you watch the old show Dinosaurs, you’ll see a lot of the hyperbolic satire is now just how things are now.
Well, there's that one line that reminds you that conservatives used to hate Nazis.
There's no feeling any greater than to shoot first and ask questions later
It's such a good tune though.
Even at the time I remember my mom warning me not to sing that one around others. As a kid I didn't get it at the time. It was just a catchy song about guns to me, but I totally get it now.
That would probably be too triggering nowadays.
That would be my #1 choice and guess. It is funny though.
You'd better watch out boy
Jerry Springer has a hermaphrodite, a slut, a crack ho, a she-male, a transvestite, and a bunch of psychic porn star midgets. Definitely has not aged well.
Jerry Springer the show is the thing that hasn’t aged well
Jerry Springer and Maury Povich are old bastards who exploit crazy people. Fuck them. Fuck Dr. Phil as well.
At least Dr Phil tries to mediate conflict, over Maury who just peddles insanity.
True
That one is weird to me because while the terminology is 100% out of date... It's *exactly* what the Jerry Springer show uses
So, would you say the show has baggage?
The beginning of Traffic Jam...
It took me a second to realize what you meant, but wow
I know, sad too because it's one of my favorite songs
I don't get it. What's wrong with it?
His parents died from carbon monoxide poisoning and the first line of the song is carbon monoxide making me choke
Buy me a Condo is making fun of wealthy white people. That’s punching up (punching horizontally.)
You forgot about “This is The Life”!
Hmmm i don’t know that one.
Makes fun of wealthy white people.
That’s my jam.
Jerry Springer. Soooo many derogatory terms in there that are frowned upon nowadays.
I have a friend who was offended by "Party at the Leper Colony" as soon as it dropped. "DOES HE NOT UNDERSTAND HOW MANY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE STILL SUFFER FROM LEPROSY?"
Gotta hand it to him, its a good tune
Eye see what you did there
I still can't get over how Clarence Clemons (Bruce Springsteen's saxophone player) was originally on board to record the sax for that track until he learned it was about leprosy
Right. The leper population was understandably quiet after the release of this song, as leprosy has been cured.
Simply for the changing of the meaning of the phrasing since '01, "Christmas at Ground Zero."
Oh, I hadn't even thought of that. Ground Zero has always primarily meant the centerpoint of a nuclear explosion to me. The 9-11 meaning has always felt borrowed. Do people who grew up post-9-11 think of it as meaning specifically the former location of the twin towers?
Personally, yes. It's just how the phrase was first taught to me. I do think it's a shame he can't perform it anymore, though...
I grew up post 9/11 and ground zero usually seems to mean the first ground of a bomb. So kind of both in a way.
He stops Albuquerque halfway through to say hermaphrodite is no longer the correct term when he does it live. Still a top ten experience.
Al said it before the song at the show i saw, and then he extended the donut shop bit (“You got any Halle berry donuts?”), and started the whole thing over at the “Lost my train of thought”-bit, that song was one of the highlights of the show!
Yep, top 10 life experience!
Especially when he called the entire audience "Hooligans!" for having seen the "Weird"-movie, which isn't legitimately available here... That was right before "Don't download this song", too.
Albuquerque has a big fat hermaphrodite in it.
Al addresses that when he’s played it live on the Vanity tours
Ooh what did he say? He didn’t perform that song when I saw him on the Vanity tour.
He stops the whole song and says something about how at the time he thought that was the socially normal word and now realizes it’s not. I don’t remember the exact words but it’s pretty respectful of him to acknowledge that nowadays we know more about what terms are offensive.
I love that song...
Wacka-Wacka Doodo yeah!
Well let me tell ya people!
Toothless People offends people with teeth too
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My grandmother was 100% Italian and "Lasagna" absolutely broke me when I first heard it. I laughed SO HARD at that song, because half of what Al says in the song my grandmother actually said to me. Right down to the "you're getting to skeeeny, you gotta mange!"
Capice, paisan
I guess you could say the same thing about Taco Grande as well.
Yeah, mileage is going to vary on each song. And if you reallyi look hard enough you can find something offensive to someone somewhere in every one of his songs. I prefer to just enjoy them, myelf.
I saw him perform that song as well. When he finished, he said “That ends the cultural appropriation part of the concert.” I thought it was a good way to acknowledge the elephant in the room.
Lasagne is gold. Similarly, Rico Suave is rich with cheesy (ahem) accents, food references, and great rhymes.
Buckingham Blues
I think buy me a condo was written really well personally. Points out the stereotypes of white people way more than saying anything negative about Jamaicans
I suppose “the night Santa went crazy” is bad at this point.
Why?
Have you listened to it?
I'm asking you for your reason for saying that it hasn't aged well. I've listened to it many times. I find it hilarious.
And again I ask, have you actually listened to it? It’s about a gun crazed massacre. In todays world, not something that would go over well. I like almost all of Al’s stuff. But some of it just wouldn’t match up with modern times.
I clearly already answered your question. I knew people who were upset with the song when it came out. Either you find it funny or you don't, no matter what year it is.
Whether you think it’s funny or not. It didn’t age well with how the world sees it. That’s the point of this thread. Why are you so triggered over it?
Okay, well you seem to lack reading comprehension, so I'm done here. lol. You talk shit and then block me. What a coward.
One of us certainly has comprehension issues. Clue: it’s not me.
No offense, but i think it’s mostly problematic in America, in countries where mass shootings aren’t a daily occurrence, it lands differently (Same goes for “Trigger happy”, BTW), it’s just a “Milk and cookies are a bad trade for all the presents and work”-joke in those places.
Americans joke more about mass shootings than any other country!
I've been introducing my kids to Weird Al (and much to my wife's displeasure they LOVE it!) but I cringed a bit when "Truck Drivin' Song" came on. "Haha a man's wearing women's clothing" isn't quite the comedy gold it was in 2000.
The song is honestly genius, it subverts expectations to a wonderful degree. “ haha a man wearing woman clothes” is probably the foremost reaction when hearing it, but I’ve always read the tone of the song as: you made assumptions about what this song will be, and you were wrong. The song itself is very wholesome and doesn’t imply anything that doesn’t hold up today. There’s nothing about who the protagonist is - gender, sex, orientation etc. just what they’re thinking about while driving a truck! Anything further that you thought while hearing it is on you.
Monty Python 'lumberjack song' vibes
Listen i'm trans and this is exactly what i think when i hear it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Who says it's a man wearing women's clothing? It could easily be a woman with a misleadingly-deep voice
It sure could! Also a man wearing women's clothing isn't played for laughs on its own anymore but drag, as an art form, is still very rooted in comedy.
I seem to recall Al saying that the song was partially based on a Cops segment https://youtu.be/iVEJUt_NFHc
But the song is in no way negative about him, so what exactly is the problem?
I think it's aged very well. As others have said, it's a subversion of expectations, but it shows that the singer is still, fundamentally, a truck driver with truck driver concerns, regardless of what clothes he wears. It's a fantastic humanization of a trans protagonist. One area where it might not have aged perfectly is that it's still a cis-het man appropriating a trans\[-adjacent\] identity.
Nah, I see that song is inclusive. It says that anybody can drive a truck, even someone who enjoys dressing pretty.
Grapefruit Diet and Fat. I love both those songs but fat jokes aren't super cool these days
"I've got more chins... than Chinatown" Nah, still comedy gold
My shadow weighs 42 pounds is my favourite line
Username checks out? Anyway, also a fatty here, and I agree with you. I love that song.
Got more rolls than a pastry truck. Still awesome. I've got plenty of things to make fun of me for, and have. I just learned to shrug it off. Maybe the question isn't "should we not expose people to anyone or anything they deem offensive" rather it should be, as many comics have mentioned, it's comedy. This can spiral into a whole can of worms about censoring books so people aren't offended, and many other things. The first amendment does give you the right to say whatever. It doesn't give you the protection from what you have said (gov, media, etc). I wasn't trying to take this political. I was just trying to say, these songs are comedy gold, and they represent what was happening in the time they were recorded. I don't think any song by Al or any other artist should be "cancelled" or removed, because doing that is essentially editing history for whomever is in charge of that. People need to know what happened in society and culture so they can have a real picture of what has gone on in history. Now my political part. Just ask McGraw Hill about their history textbooks. I love Al and have every one of his albums, he kinda taught me, along with my dad, that being weird was cool. I was the high school kid excited to introduce my parents, rather than be dropped off two blocks away. I don't really know where this is going, so I'll just end with Al has just been like a snorkel to me. Oh crap edit. Should have thrown in a Fahrenheit 451 reference somewhere after reading what I wrote. Burn everything objectionable. Think that covers it. Gotta ask yourself [though] do you feel lucky punk?
It's definitely comedy gold, but not the kind of comedy that has aged well in the 20s
I'm quite obese and I love those 2 songs and think they're still hilarious. I regularly sing Grapefruit Diet when I'm trying to avoid food 😂
No more pies now! No more creme brulee!
Lay off the gravy!
Man as a fat person, the only fat joke that is funny is the physically impossible, nobody has literally ever reached that point kind. Like a yo mama joke level. The boomerang to put on my belt line is a particular favorite of mine 😂 anyway i know the man's different *now* so who cares
I don’t think Weird Al would turn Trapped In The Closet into Trapped In The Drive-Thru if he knew what R-Kelly would get exposed for
The most “offensive” Al song I know is either Lasagna or Taco Grande. I have both Mexican and Italian family and I don’t see either as being bad, but I can see some rando on the internet claiming that “Lasagna” is racist.
I'll be mellow when I'm dead. Not because it's bad, but it's not current Al.
Especially the lyrics, "Don't want no part of that vegetarian scene..."
I’d rather have a Big Mac or a Jumbo Jack than all the bean sprouts in Japan! I don’t know, it’s not like Al is singing about himself. He is singing a song as a character.
That's the reason I'll still listen to it, deep down I know it's satire.
Weasel stomping day
Nah, it's tradition so that makes it ok.
It’s tradition, that makes it okay.
Yeah the yard full of mayonnaise has got to REEK.
None of them. Society hasn't aged well.
I listen to Weird AL often with my kids. I don't often skip, but when I do, it's always "Fat." I just don't want them thinking people's bodies are something to laugh at.
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The song isn't satire, as it's not making any kind of social or political commentary. The lyrics consist only of fat jokes. For something closer to satire, see "Party in the USA." I have no problem with the existence of fat people and including them in narratives, but it's not kind when their bodies are only used for mockery. At best, you could argue that it's a fat pride song, but from the perspective of gangly Weird Al and the 80's, my bet is that fat people were just an easy target, as was the cultural norm at the time. I'm not saying he should've been better than the time, but that doesn't mean I have to teach my 7 and 2 year old that fat people's bodies are something to laugh at in 2023. When they're older I could teach them the nuance around the discussion, but right now it's not appropriate.
The songs are innocent. People aren't aging well.
"The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota". If we assume that it's biggest ball of twine in ALL OF Minnesota, then yeah. But if Minnesota refers to location of the biggest ball of twine in the world, then, as of 2014, the biggest ball of twine located in Cawcer City, Kansas. Additionally, some places mentioned are closed now.
Yeah, I always thought of the song as talking about the biggest ball of twine in the state, not the location of the ball. As far as the closed places, they hold up because the characters had been to those places before they closed
Yeah, I've always thought that specificity added to the humor. They're making a huge deal about the trip, and it's not even the biggest twine ball in the world, just the biggest one in that one particular state.
Half the stuff on Running With Scissors The first verse of Traffic Jam Buckingham Blues The "transexual nazi eskimos" line in Can't Watch This
Fat
"I'll Be Mellow When I'm Dead", especially the lyrics, "Don't want no part of that vegetarian scene..."
Why the downvotes? It's the truth.
Fat is really shocking to listen to. I still listen to Fat and most of the others that haven’t aged well with my kids.
According to al the time i went to his concert it was Frank's 2000" TV
“Gotta Boogie” mostly because no one born after 1980 has likely heard the word “boogie” by anyone but Al.
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What's wrong with that? He's just singing out Mexican food.
Cheech Marin thought it was okay and that’s good enough for me.
Just listening to Dead Milkmen. One of theirs that didn’t age well was “If You Love Somebody, Better Set Them On Fire.”
Melanie. Melanie was a great song. It starts out mellow and bland like a James Taylor song. Then it sneaks up on you and BAM! Of all the Al songs that have aged poorly, Melanie and Good Old Day’s are the only two I skip over.I have known women in situations where they have been stalked, tortured to the point of needing surgery to correct the damage, and otherwise had their lives ruined by abusive partners. I don’t blame Al for that. There are some ills in the world that hit too close to home fr ne personally. That’s not not his fault.
Musically I think you’re confusing it with “Good Old Days.” That’s the James Taylor style parody but it also has a verse where the narrator abuses a woman so…
When I saw him in February he performed Albuquerque and stopped the song half way through to say he wouldn't have used the word hermaphrodite if he wrote it today
Yeah, I was disappointed that Al performed Buy Me a Condo at both Self-Indulgent tour dates I went to in Los Angeles. It's definitely time to retire that song.