“Weird Al” Yankovic Recalls Scrapped Prince Parody Songs

Though he doesn’t need to, parody artist “Weird Al” Yankovic has a reputation for getting permission from the artists whose songs he makes a mockery of. In the past this has included the likes of Eminem, Nirvana, and 50 Cent, with Coolio’s response to “Amish Paradise” becoming one of the reasons Yankovic maintains this strategy. Over the years however there have been times where Yankovic wasn’t able to get the seal of approval from artists for one reasons or another, but perhaps the most infamous is the late singer/songwriter/performer/icon Prince. Speaking in a new interview, Yankovic opened up about the Prince parody song backstory, revealing her had a few different ideas.

“Prince was the one that got away,” Yankovic told IGN. “I had several ideas for Prince songs, some of which I thought were pretty good. In fact, in UHF, my movie, instead of the Dire Straits parody, the original script called for a parody of ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ by Prince..,He just never…he had a sense of humor, but not so much about his own music, so he never allowed for that to happen. And now that he’s gone, I’m not going to ask his estate for permission because I like to respect the wishes of the artist and he made his wishes pretty darn clear. So sadly, there will not be a Prince parody.”

Yankovic’s unreleased Prince parody songs are among a long list of tracks that the Grammy winner has amassed, including songs like “Chicken Pot Pie,” a parody of Paul McCartney & Wings’ “Live and Let Die;” “Fast Food”, a parody of Alanis Morissette’s “Thank U;” and “Spameater,” a parody of Hall & Oates’ “Maneater.”

After a few decades away from feature films, Yankovic returned to the movies last year with WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story, a musical biopic parody film that featured Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe playing the musician. Produced by and released on The Roku Channel, WEIRD enjoyed critical acclaim and even won Best Movie Made for Television and Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television at the Critics’ Choice Awards.

(Cover photot via Erik Voake/Getty Images for Adult Swim)