Don McLean Thinks Weird Al’s ‘Star Wars’ Parody of ‘American Pie’ Is ‘Better Than the Original’

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/don-mclean-weird-al-american-pie-spoof-better-than-original-1235993386/

27 comments

  3. I know every lyric of The Saga Begins, and sang along to it when they played it at Star Wars Celebration 2019 for the 20th anniversary of The Phantom Menace. I sing it to myself when I’m nervous (riding a ski lift for the first time, big waves on a boat). Thank you Don and Weird Al

  4. It’s the only version I hear when the original one plays.

  5. Reminds me of the parody kings of a previous generation: Homer and Jethro. They once parodied a song by Hank Williams and a critic said they “butchered” it. Hank Williams then gave them permission to parody every song he ever did saying “a song ain’t a hit until it’s been butchered by Homer and Jethro.”

  6. One had to happen for the other to happen. American Pie is awesome but Weird Al’s version is a masterwork.

  7. In music class a kid learning guitar played this for the class. I had never heard American Pie or seen Star Wars at that point in my life, so I was really baffled

  8. We escaped from that gas and met Jar-Jar and Boss Nass

  9. American Pie isn’t that great of a song but then again I had to hear it thousands of times on the radio

  12. A long long time ago, in a galaxy far away, Naboo was under an attack

  13. It’s truly genius level writing. And the music video could not have been better. Absolutely bottled a moment in time.

  14. Little brother and I memorized “the night Santa ent crazy, was/ is most sung Xmas song every season.

  16. From the wiki:

    Yankovic gathered most of the information he needed to write the song from internet spoilers. Lucasfilm declined a request for an advance screening, so Yankovic paid to attend a charity fundraiser pre-screening. He had done such an accurate job with the storyline that he made only minor alterations after the pre-screening.

  20. Saw Al perform it live not long after it was released, walked with my girlfriend around to the back of the theater where the band was hanging out, stood around, and talked to Al for about 20 minutes with a few other fans. He really is as nice to people as they say he is!🪗😄

  21. Reading the first verse or two made me realize the only Star Wars I care about is the Andor story. If I never see another light saber or Jedi or Sith or hear someone reverently go on for ages about The Force, it’ll be too soon.

  22. Well, confirmed. Don McClean and Weird Al are both great.

  23. I’m really going to need people to start spelling it at Weird AL. Because this whole time I thought it was Weird AI (Artificial Intelligence) and that Don McLean had lost his fucking mind.

  24. And the Jedi I admired most, met up with Darth Maul, now he’s toast. I’m still here and he’s a ghost.

    I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard.

  25. What’s brilliant about Weird Al’s version to me is, while being obviously extremely funny, it still manages to keep more of the poignance of the original song than it feels like should be possible. Hell, I’d argue it’s more poignant than any of the prequel movies themselves, ironically

  27. “He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life.” – Homer Simpson

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