"My Bologna" is the debut single by American musical parody artist
"Weird Al" Yankovic, originally released in December 1979. It is a parody of
the Knack
The Knack was an American rock band based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with its first single, " My Sharona", an international number-one hit in 1979.
History Founding (1977–1978)
Singer Doug Fieger was a native of Oak Park, Michigan, a ...
's hit song "
My Sharona
"My Sharona" () is the debut single by the Knack. The song was written by Berton Averre and Doug Fieger, and it was released in 1979 from their debut album, '' Get the Knack''. It reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart, ...
". Yankovic originally wrote the lyrics while he attended
California Polytechnic State University in
San Luis Obispo, California; the original version of the parody was recorded in a bathroom across the hall from the radio station at which Yankovic worked. The title refers to
Bologna sausage
Bologna sausage, informally baloney ( ), is a sausage derived from the Italian mortadella, a similar-looking, finely ground pork sausage, originally from the city of Bologna (). Typical seasonings for bologna include black pepper, nutmeg, a ...
, specifically the
Oscar Mayer
Oscar Mayer is an American meat and cold cut producer known for its hot dogs, bologna, bacon, ham, and Lunchables products. The company is a subsidiary of the Kraft Heinz Company and based in Chicago, Illinois.
History Early years
German im ...
brand popular in the United States. Yankovic sent "My Bologna" to
Dr. Demento
Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941), known professionally as Dr. Demento, is an American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograp ...
, who aired the song on his nationwide radio program, ''The Dr. Demento Show''. The song was a hit on the program, and eventually gained the number one spot on Dr. Demento's "Funny Five" countdown.
After a fortuitous encounter with
Doug Fieger
Douglas Lars Fieger (August 20, 1952 – February 14, 2010) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the rock band The Knack. He co-wrote "My Sharona," the biggest hit song of 1979 in the ...
(the lead singer of the Knack), and
Rupert Perry Rupert Perry is a high-ranking member of the EMI Record Corporation. After joining EMI Music in 1971, he was given various promotions. 1976 earned him a title as Vice President of Artist and repertoire for Capitol Records in the US. 1982 landed ...
(then-vice president of Capitol Records),
Capitol Records decided to release it as a single. Yankovic was paid $500 for the master tape of the song, and its B-side, "School Cafeteria". A month after its commercial release, the single sold 10,000 copies. The song also received positive—albeit limited—reviews from media outlets. Although a music video was never produced for the song, an "unofficial" video was filmed, featuring a young Yankovic lip-syncing to this song at
Cuesta College
Cuesta College is a public community college in San Luis Obispo County, California.
History
The first community college in the San Luis Obispo area was founded in 1916 as a San Luis Obispo High School division. It lasted until 1919 with the Uni ...
in December 1979. "My Bologna" was later re-recorded and released on Yankovic's
debut album (1983), and the "bathroom version" was re-released on the
box sets ''
Permanent Record: Al in the Box'' (1994) and ''
Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of "Weird Al" Yankovic'' (2017).
Background and recording
In the late 1970s,
Alfred "Weird Al" Yankovic, was a student at
California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in
San Luis Obispo, California, and in his spare time, he was a DJ for the university's radio station,
KCPR
KCPR (91.3 FM) is a non-commercial radio station that is licensed to San Luis Obispo, California. Owned by California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, the station is operated by students from its on-campus studio locat ...
. Yankovic had a penchant for comedy music and often played it on his radio show. In mid-1979, the song "
My Sharona
"My Sharona" () is the debut single by the Knack. The song was written by Berton Averre and Doug Fieger, and it was released in 1979 from their debut album, '' Get the Knack''. It reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart, ...
" by
the Knack
The Knack was an American rock band based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with its first single, " My Sharona", an international number-one hit in 1979.
History Founding (1977–1978)
Singer Doug Fieger was a native of Oak Park, Michigan, a ...
was receiving heavy airplay on the radio, and Yankovic started to consider spoofing the single. This parody eventually came to fruition during an ad hoc jam session with his friend Jon Iverson; while Iverson played the main riff to "My Sharona" on his guitar, Yankovic began to write lyrics for his parody. Yankovic's lyrics eventually coalesced into "My Bologna", an ode to the
Oscar Mayer
Oscar Mayer is an American meat and cold cut producer known for its hot dogs, bologna, bacon, ham, and Lunchables products. The company is a subsidiary of the Kraft Heinz Company and based in Chicago, Illinois.
History Early years
German im ...
brand of
Bologna sausage
Bologna sausage, informally baloney ( ), is a sausage derived from the Italian mortadella, a similar-looking, finely ground pork sausage, originally from the city of Bologna (). Typical seasonings for bologna include black pepper, nutmeg, a ...
. The duo started to play it in and around the Cal Poly campus at parties and local theaters.
In September 1979, Yankovic decided to record his parody in the men's bathroom across from the KCPR offices, because the tiled room made "an acoustically perfect studio."
Taped using musical equipment from the radio station, the original version of "My Bologna" featured only Yankovic's vocals accompanied by his
accordion.
Yankovic then sent his recording to
Barret "Dr. Demento" Hansen, a radio personality who hosted the
syndicated ''Dr. Demento Show'', which showcased comedy and oddball music. According to Dr. Demento himself, "The response I got when I played
My Bologna'on the air dwarfed not only that for all
ankovic'searlier tapes, but practically everything else I played that whole year."
Release
On September 27, 1979, Yankovic received a type-written note from Dr. Demento informing him that "My Bologna" was a smash hit on his radio show, and that
Capitol Records had contacted the station, requesting a copy of the spoof for the Knack themselves. Later, the Knack performed at Cal Poly, and Yankovic approached the band and
Rupert Perry Rupert Perry is a high-ranking member of the EMI Record Corporation. After joining EMI Music in 1971, he was given various promotions. 1976 earned him a title as Vice President of Artist and repertoire for Capitol Records in the US. 1982 landed ...
(then-vice president of Capitol Records) backstage. He informed them of who he was, and, according to Yankovic, "
he Knack lead singerDoug Fieger
Douglas Lars Fieger (August 20, 1952 – February 14, 2010) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the rock band The Knack. He co-wrote "My Sharona," the biggest hit song of 1979 in the ...
..said 'Oh,
My Bologna' isa really a great song!' and then he turned to Rupert Perry and said 'You guys oughta put this song out on Capitol Records' and Rupert said 'OK, let's do it!'"
Yankovic was paid $500 for the song's master, as well as the master for the soon-to-be b-side track "School Cafeteria". The "My Bologna" single was released on Christmas Day, 1979 (a month after the Knack's concert at Cal Poly) and Yankovic was given a six-month contract.
[Rabin and Yankovic 2012, p. 25.]
On March 14, 1982, Yankovic re-recorded the song for his debut album, ''
"Weird Al" Yankovic''.
He later joked that this was done because "somehow, we thought
he songmight sound better recorded in a professional 24-track studio than
tdid when
t wasrecorded in a bathroom". The Capitol Records single version also appears on ''
Permanent Record: Al in the Box'' (1994)
and ''
Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of "Weird Al" Yankovic'' (2017). "School Cafeteria" was never re-recorded or made available on any studio albums, although a live-on-the-radio version was released on the compilation album ''Dr. Demento's Basement Tapes 7''.
Reception
Prior to the single's commercial release, the song was a hit on the ''Dr. Demento Show'', and landed at number one on the radio show's "Funny Five" countdown chart. Within a month of the single being released by Capitol, it had sold 10,000 copies. However, Yankovic soon learned that Capitol Records had no interest in promoting the single.
The first industry mention of the single came from ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
''; in an article, the magazine erroneously listed the song's creator as "Wendell Yankovich" and noted that "the tune—not too seriously, folks—is called 'My Bologna', based on you-know-what."
[ In a later review of Yankovic's debut album, ]Eugene Chadbourne
Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic.
Life and career
Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar when he was eleven or twel ...
of AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
praised the re-recorded version of the song, writing: "'My Bologna' demonstrated the ..fine art of making the stupid much stupider. A later album title by this artist would be ''Dare to Be Stupid
''Dare to Be Stupid'' is the third studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on June 18, 1985. The album was one of many Yankovic records produced by former McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer. Recorded between August 1984 and March 1985, the ...
'', and if the Knack's 'My Sharona' had to be sacrificed at his creative altar for this to be understood, so be it."
Music video
Although an official video was never released, an "unofficial" video was filmed, featuring a young Yankovic lip-syncing to this song at Cuesta College
Cuesta College is a public community college in San Luis Obispo County, California.
History
The first community college in the San Luis Obispo area was founded in 1916 as a San Luis Obispo High School division. It lasted until 1919 with the Uni ...
in December 1979. as part of a final project for a TV production class for a Cal Poly, KCPR classmate, Randy Kerdoon. Yankovic—who later referred to the video as "absolutely terrible, yet of earth-shatteringly profound historical significance"—credits Kerdoon for producing and directing his first music video. This unofficial music video is included on the DVD '' "Weird Al" Yankovic: The Ultimate Video Collection'' (2003) as an Easter egg
Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...
.
Legacy
The re-recorded version of this parody appears in the third-season '' Stranger Things'' episode "Chapter Two: The Mall Rats".
Yankovic's 2022 comedy biographical film '' Weird: the Al Yankovic Story'' satirically claims that Yankovic was inspired to pen "My Bologna" after he heard "My Sharona" on the radio while he was making bologna sandwiches. A 2022 re-recording of the song was also included as part of the movie's soundtrack.
Track listing
See also
* "Weird Al" Yankovic discography
*List of songs recorded by "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic is a multiple Grammy Award-winning American musician, satirist, parodist, accordionist, director, television producer, and author.
He is known in particular for humorous songs which make fun of popular culture or parody spe ...
Notes
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
*
{{authority control
1979 songs
Capitol Records singles
1979 debut singles
Songs with lyrics by "Weird Al" Yankovic
Songs written by Berton Averre
Songs written by Doug Fieger
"Weird Al" Yankovic songs