"Lasagna" is a song 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 parody of " La Bamba", a traditional song popularized by Ritchie Valens and

Los Lobos Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cumbia, ...

Track listing

# "Lasagna" – 2:45 # "Velvet Elvis" – 4:27

Writing and release

When Yankovic began writing the song, he claimed: Under U.S. law, Yankovic can parody any song as long as he pays royalties to use the original music. However, as a personal rule, he asks for permission in order to maintain good relations with the industry. This song is an exception to that rule. Although it is a parody of the

cover version (in turn a faithful cover of Ritchie Valens's version, though Valens had died in 1959), "Lasagna" marked Yankovic's first parody that did not require permission from an artist or a payment of royalties, since "La Bamba" is a traditional folk song that is not attributed to any specific writer. The single was released exclusively in Japan as a mini 3" CD single.

Music video

There is no full-length music video for this single, though a shortened music video segment was shown in 1997 as a part of '' The Weird Al Show''. *The video features a stereotypical Italian family, including an elderly woman, two children, a rather large man for "Cousin Luigi" and Yankovic (sans glasses) as the father. *When the line "A-don't you get any on ya, you sloppy pig" is sung, the elderly woman at the dinner table drops the lasagna into Luigi's lap. *After "Have-a more ravioli" is sung, two children catch

ravioli Ravioli (; singular: ''raviolo'', ) are a type of pasta comprising a filling enveloped in thin pasta dough. Usually served in broth or with a sauce, they originated as a traditional food in Italian cuisine. Ravioli are commonly square, though o ...

in their mouth. *Near the end, lasagna is falling out of Luigi's mouth. *The elderly woman and one of the children fight over the lasagna near the end. *At the end, the family does a dance. First they simply wave from side to side with their hands on each other's shoulders while still seated. Then, they stand up from their chairs, which move off-screen, as does the table. Yankovic takes his plate of lasagna off the table. They all do a can can-type dance as confetti and balloons fall from the ceiling, and at the cheering section at the end, the others gather around Yankovic as he holds out his plate proudly.

Italian dishes mentioned in "Lasagna"

Yankovic names many Italian dishes in "Lasagna", including: * Lasagna * Spaghetti *

Calzone A calzone (, , ; "stocking" or "trouser") is an Italian oven-baked folded pizza, often described as a turnover, made with leavened dough. It originated in Naples in the 18th century. A typical calzone is made from salted bread dough, baked in ...

* Minestrone * Marinara *

Linguini Linguine (, English: ; sometimes anglicized as linguini) is a type of pasta similar to fettuccine and trenette but elliptical in section rather than flat. It is about in width, which is wider than spaghetti but not as wide as fettuccine. The n ...

* Fettuccine *

Ravioli Ravioli (; singular: ''raviolo'', ) are a type of pasta comprising a filling enveloped in thin pasta dough. Usually served in broth or with a sauce, they originated as a traditional food in Italian cuisine. Ravioli are commonly square, though o ...

In popular culture

"Lasagna" is heard playing on a radio in a cave scene in the 2010 film '' Yogi Bear''. In the second-season episode of NBC's drama '' This Is Us'' entitled "The Car", the Pearson family sings the song to calm mom Rebecca's ( Mandy Moore) nerves as they cross a bridge on the way to a Yankovic concert.

References