Lady Gaga says no to ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic parody

SoundSpike.com wrote a good piece about the new Weird Al Yankovic parody of Lady Gaga‘s Born This Way.

The essence of the story: Yankovic, as always, tried to get approval to parody Gaga’s song for his upcoming album. He also informed her people that all the proceeds from the song, Perform This Way, would be given to charity.

After sending Gaga the lyrics of the song, she said “no” and that she wouldn’t approve it until she actually heard the song.

So Al, at his own expense, recorded the song and submitted it to Gaga when it was finished. She said “no” again.

Yankovic wonders why she couldn’t have just said “no” in the first place rather than essentially forcing him to record the song without knowing if he’d be able to release it.

By law, he can release it without her approval. But since that’s not his policy, he isn’t going to. However, he isn’t going to let his hard work go to waste, so he’s put the song the web.

Check out the video and the SoundSpike story. Good job to both SS and Weird Al.

In other Gaga news, there’s a brouhaha among concert photographers about her restrictive photo policies. Additional details forthcoming.

Maui Zan observation. When Gaga denied giving Weird Al her permission, it brought a lot of attention to the story. I’m not saying it was a marketing ploy to help keep her name in the press — but she does admire Madonna — music’s reigning Media Queen.