"Craigslist" is a song and single by

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...

. It is a style parody of

the Doors The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...

, and contains lyrics inspired by postings at the online classified advertising service,

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is an American classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, Gig worker, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums. Craig Newmark ...

. Yankovic described the idea of the song coming about thinking how it would be "anachronistically weird" for

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredicta ...

to scream about Craigslist. Yankovic opted to use Craigslist as an example of something big in both the popular culture and his own life, and spent time exploring its listings to compose the lyrics. The song was released shortly after the closure of the Michael John Anderson (

Craigslist Killer Internet homicide refers to killing in which victim and perpetrator met online, in some cases having known each other previously only through the Internet.http://www.napavalley.edu/Projects/189/Chapter_022_4th_ed__handout.pdf Napa Valley College ...

) case, a factor Yankovic considered "unfortunate timing". Founding Doors member and keyboardist

Ray Manzarek Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. (né Manczarek; February 12, 1939 – May 20, 2013) was an American keyboardist. He is best known as a member of the Doors, co-founding the band with singer and lyricist Jim Morrison in 1965. Manzarek was induct ...

played keyboards on the studio recording of the song. The single was the first of four new singles that were being released as part of the '' Internet Leaks'' EP. Craigslist was released digitally on June 16, 2009.

Composition

As a "style parody", the song does not take directly from any single Doors tune, but instead transposes bits from various songs (especially from their first, self-titled album) and combines them. The intro guitar and organ riffs are similar to " Soul Kitchen" and " When the Music's Over", while the verses are reminiscent of "Twentieth Century Fox" and a short section of scat singing as in "

Roadhouse Blues "Roadhouse Blues" is a song by the American rock band the Doors from their 1970 album '' Morrison Hotel''. It was released as the B-side of "You Make Me Real", which peaked at No. 50 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "Roadhouse Blues" charted ...

". Discrete sections in the guitar solo recall "When the Music's Over", "

The End The End may refer to: Films * ''The End'' (1953 film), a film by Christopher Maclaine * ''The End'' (1978 film), a comedy by Burt Reynolds * ''The End'' (1997 film), a Canadian film of 1997 * ''The End'' (1998 film), a skateboarding document ...

" and "

Light My Fire "Light My Fire" is a song by the American rock band the Doors. It was recorded in August 1966 and released in January 1967 on their eponymous debut album. Released as an edited single on April 24, 1967, it spent three weeks at number one on t ...

", and the "snotty barista" section is a softer parody of the

Oedipus complex The Oedipus complex (also spelled Œdipus complex) is an idea in psychoanalytic theory. The complex is an ostensibly universal phase in the life of a young boy in which, to try to immediately satisfy basic desires, he unconsciously wishes to have ...

from "

Personnel

– vocals * Jim "Kimo" West – guitars *

Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz (born August 18, 1956) is a drummer best known for working with the singer-songwriter "Weird Al" Yankovic. The two met while recording " Another One Rides the Bus" at the Dr. Demento show on September 14, 1980. Shortly a ...

– drums and percussion *

– keyboards

Reception

The music style of "Craigslist" has been considered to be a "dead-on parody of the Doors". Marc Hirsh of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

noted that the composition and performance of "Craigslist" are evidence that Yankovic is a "Stealth Pop Musicologist", able to deconstruct a genre of work and recreate it into something new without being unrecognizable. Craigslist founder

Craig Newmark Craig Alexander Newmark (born December 6, 1952) is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist best known as the founder of the classifieds website Craigslist. Prior to founding Craigslist, he worked as a computer programmer for companie ...

, after being asked how he felt about the song, responded, "The thing's pretty funny!"

Music video

The song has an associated video produced by Liam Lynch and was released on the same day as the single, though

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017� ...

previewed the video a day before. The budget for the video was much lower than Yankovic's "

White & Nerdy "White & Nerdy" is the second single from "Weird Al" Yankovic's album ''Straight Outta Lynwood'', which was released on September 26, 2006. It parodies the song "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone. The song both satirizes and celebrates n ...

" and was shot in Lynch's garage. Yankovic stated that the low budget video "dovetails well" with the concept of the song. The video incorporates similar imagery seen in the Doors' videos, including stock footage and art house effects. Yankovic dressed as Morrison, having to lose some weight to look like the singer at age 24, and performed in front of a

green screen Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to r ...

to allow effects to be added afterward.

References

External links