Weird Al Parodies Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way”, Lady Gaga Does Not Approve

Becky Bain | April 20, 2011 10:40 am

Most artists believe that being parodied by Weird Al Yankovic means that you’ve officially made it, but it looks like Lady Gaga doesn’t think it’s such an honor to be roasted by the funnyman. Yankovic wrote and recorded a parody of “Born This Way” that was supposed to be the first single from his upcoming album, but “unfortunately, it did not receive Lady Gaga’s approval.” He adds details on the “Gaga saga” in a blog post, and adds that he will offer free downloads of the song soon, so it’s not a total loss. For now, listen to the parody below and see if Gaga had a right to shoot down Weird Al.

Weird Al Yankovic — “Perform This Way” (Lady Gaga Parody)

Our favorite lyric? “I’ll be a troll or an evil queen / I’ll be a human jelly bean / Cause everyday is Halloween for me.”

His blog post explaining the situation is a bit long, but worth the read. He discusses initially having reservations doing a parody of the song, since “it was such an earnest human rights anthem, I thought some people might consider a parody to be in poor taste. Plus, I was really kinda predisposed not to do a Lady Gaga parody anyway because, well, that’s what everybody in the universe was already assuming I would do, and I hate to be so predictable.”

But once he got his good idea, he decided to go through with it, and donate all proceeds from sales of both the song and the video to the Human Rights Campaign.

As for why Gaga decided to say no, Yankovic has no idea, especially since she insisted that he not only write the song and show her the lyrics first, but record it before she could give her blessing. Which she didn’t.

Gaga, please change your mind and allow him to officially release this song as a single, because imagining Weird Al dressed up in all your insane costumes in a parody video is way too good to pass up.

UPDATE: TMZ is reporting that Lady Gaga has not even listened to the song yet, and has not passed on it. There’s hope yet!

2ND UPDATE: New York Times writer Dave Itzkoff has just tweeted, “BREAKING! Weird @alyankovic’s manager tells me @ladygaga has now given permission for ‘Perform This Way’ to be included on his album.” Three cheers, little monsters and Weird Al fans!