"You're Pitiful" is a parody of the
James Blunt
James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount, 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is known for his songs "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover".
As a British Army captain in the aftermath of the Kosovo War, Blunt ...
song "
You're Beautiful
"You're Beautiful" is a song by English singer-songwriter James Blunt. It was written by Blunt, Sacha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost for Blunt's debut album, '' Back to Bedlam'' (2004). It was released as the third single of the album in 2005.
In ...
" written and recorded by American parody musician
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...
. It was released exclusively online on June 7, 2006. In it, Yankovic chides a 42-year-old man who lives a pitiful existence. It was originally intended as the lead
single of his twelfth studio album, ''
Straight Outta Lynwood''.
While Blunt had no issues with Yankovic recording the parody, his label,
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
, forbade a commercial release. In a later music video and live performances, Yankovic referred unflatteringly to Atlantic. He occasionally and unsuccessfully asks to include the song on compilations.
Synopsis
According to music critic
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin () is an American film and music critic. Rabin was the first head writer for ''The A.V. Club'', a position he held until he left the ''Onion'' organization in 2013. , "You're Pitiful" functions as "an amusing character study of the contemporary loser".
[Rabin and Yankovic 2012, p. 171.] In the song, Yankovic chides a 42-year-old man who still lives a "pitiful" existence. The man is described in the lyrics as living with his mother and having a job at a convenience store working the
Slurpee machine. His hobbies include playing ''
Halo 2
''Halo 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. ''Halo 2'' is the second installment in the ''Halo'' franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclai ...
'' and dabbling in amateur ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...
''
cosplay
Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers often i ...
.
Recording and controversy

In early 2006, Yankovic began recording parody songs for his upcoming album ''
Straight Outta Lynwood''.
Yankovic initially approached
James Blunt
James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount, 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is known for his songs "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover".
As a British Army captain in the aftermath of the Kosovo War, Blunt ...
and asked if he could record a parody of his hit song "
You're Beautiful
"You're Beautiful" is a song by English singer-songwriter James Blunt. It was written by Blunt, Sacha Skarbek and Amanda Ghost for Blunt's debut album, '' Back to Bedlam'' (2004). It was released as the third single of the album in 2005.
In ...
". Blunt was receptive of the parody idea, and gave Yankovic permission; on April 12, 2006, Yankovic began recording the song.
When Yankovic and his record company
Volcano
A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...
announced ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' would be released on June 27, 2006,
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
contacted Yankovic and said that they did not want this parody to be released.
Atlantic records feared that, "it was 'too early' in James' career for a parody, and ... that focusing any more attention on 'Beautiful' at that point might lead to the perception of James as a '
one-hit wonder
A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...
'."
Yankovic found this particularly odd, because in his experience, it was generally the artists who were unwilling to want parodies recorded and not record labels (as parody songs generate royalties, which in turn generate revenue for the label). According to Yankovic, "They didn't say I couldn't do the parody ... they just said they'd let me know 'when the time was right'."
As such, Yankovic and his record label postponed the album's release date and cancelled their upcoming tour. Finally, months later, Yankovic got a response from Atlantic: "The 'right' time, apparently, was 'never'."
Yankovic had a policy of obtaining approval prior to releasing his parodies from the original artist's record company, but after a miscommunication surrounding "
Amish Paradise", a parody of
Coolio
Artis Leon Ivey Jr. (August 1, 1963 – September 28, 2022), known by his stage name Coolio, was an American rapper. He was best known for his single "Gangsta's Paradise" (1995), which won a Grammy Award, and was credited for changing the cours ...
's "
Gangsta's Paradise
"Gangsta's Paradise" is a single by American rapper Coolio, released on August 1, 1995, by Tommy Boy, Warner Bros. and MCA. Interpolating Stevie Wonder's song " Pastime Paradise" (1976), "Gangsta's Paradise" features vocals from American sin ...
", he sought permission directly from the artist. Yankovic told
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
that it was the first time a record label had denied a release of one of his parodies.
Given that Blunt had given his blessing to record the parody, Yankovic noted that there was no way Atlantic could legally forbid the parody: "James Blunt could still let me put it on my album if he really wanted to, but he obviously doesn't want to alienate his own record company ... and my label could release the parody without Atlantic's blessing, but they don't really want to go to war with another label over this."
In the end, Yankovic concluded that the issue was "more of a political matter than a legal matter".
Because Blunt had no issue with the parody, and because it had already been recorded, Yankovic released it online as a free digital download.
[ " James Blunt himself were objecting," Yankovic told NPR, "I wouldn't even offer my parody for free on my Web site. But since it's a bunch of suits – who are actually going against their own artist's wishes – I have absolutely no problem with it."][ The song was later officially mirrored on a number of "Weird Al" Yankovic fansites and blogs, including Al-oholics Anonymous, WeirdAlForum, WeirdAlStar, WeirdAlShow, and AllThingsYank.] Still needing a lead parody for his album, Yankovic recorded " White & Nerdy" (a parody of Chamillionaire
Hakeem Temidayo Seriki (born November 28, 1979), better known by his stage name Chamillionaire (), is an American rapper. He began his career in Houston's hip hop scene in the late 1990s. He was briefly signed with the local record label Swishah ...
's "Ridin'
"Ridin is a song by American rapper Chamillionaire featuring fellow American rapper Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, released on November 12, 2005, as the second single from his debut studio album '' The Sound of Revenge'' (2005). Produce ...
"). This single would go on to be Yankovic's most-popular song, and his first top 10 ''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' hit.[
The digital single's cover art (spoofing the cover of Blunt's album '' Back to Bedlam'') was the product of a fan named Aron Shay, which had been submitted to the fansite Al-oholics Anonymous as part of a calendar contest. The image was later used on Yankovic's official ]MySpace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
page, and has since become the ''de facto'' cover art for the single.
Aftermath
The music video for ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' second single, "White & Nerdy", depicts Yankovic taking revenge, of sorts, against Atlantic Records by vandalizing their English Wikipedia
The English Wikipedia is the primary English-language edition of Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. It was created by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger on 15 January 2001, as Wikipedia's first edition.
English Wikipedia is hosted alongside o ...
article by blanking all text and replacing it with the words "YOU SUCK!" in large letters. This particular revenge has since actually been repeatedly performed by online vandals. Yankovic has said that he does not approve of the vandalism, although he admits being amused by it. In addition, the video also shows Yankovic viewing his MySpace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
page and for a split second, "You're Pitiful" is visible as his profile song.
In 2009, while compiling the track listing for his then-upcoming greatest hits album '' The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic'', Blunt and his company were once again approached by Yankovic, now asking they allow the long-shelved parody be released on the compilation record. The request was denied, and Yankovic later tweeted: "In case you were hoping for 'You're Pitiful' to be included on my Essentials collection, sorry, this just in from Blunt's manager: 'Thanks for your email, but both James and I will never approve this parody to be released on any label.
In mid-2016, while preparing to release his career-spanning box set '' Squeeze Box'', Yankovic once again reached out to Blunt to see if in the seven years he had changed his mind. Once again, he was denied, tweeting: "Sadly, ames Bluntwon't let me include 'You're Pitiful' on my box set."
Reception
Nathan Rabin wrote that the parody was amusing but that "it was nowhere near as strong as the geek anthem .e. 'White & Nerdy'that would become the first single off f2006's ''Straight Outta Lynwood''".[
In April 2011, Blunt discussed Yankovic and the parody with the '']Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States.
Th ...
'', saying:
I'm a fan of his, particularly the earliest stuff he did, though he got his notoriety and his fame for what were genius moments along the way, and they were really exciting. And for me, I've only been flattered by parodies of my own songs. There are some great ones out there. I have absolutely no problem with Al. I think it's a huge compliment for what he's done. At the same time, it's generally not my favorite of the parodies. I think it was a safe one. It wasn't as exciting as some others. There's one really special one which you should look up by a guy called Tom Gleeson
Thomas Francis Gleeson (born 2 June 1974) is an Australian stand-up comedian, writer, television and radio presenter. Gleeson currently hosts '' Hard Quiz'' and '' Taskmaster Australia'' and previously co-hosted ''The Weekly with Charlie Picker ...
, and it's just really clever. And for me, that was a more exciting one.
Live performances
On the concert tour for ''Straight Outta Lynwood'', Yankovic performed the song initially wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and progressively removed clothing to reveal different layers underneath (as Blunt does in the music video for "You're Beautiful"). The penultimate T-shirt revealed says "Atlantic Records Sucks". During his 2010 tour, this shirt was modified from the original, stating "Atlantic Records STILL Sucks". It was after they denied "You're Pitiful" being put on his 2011 album '' Alpocalypse''. The final T-shirt is the face of ''SpongeBob SquarePants
''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...
''. Yankovic then removed his pants to reveal boxer shorts
Boxer shorts (also commonly known as simply boxers) are a type of undergarment typically worn by men.
The term has been used in English since 1944 for all-around-elastic shorts, so named after the shorts worn by Boxing, boxers, for whom unhindered ...
with red hearts, a pink tutu, and fishnet stockings.[ The final outfit was first revealed in 2008.
]
Credits and personnel
;Band members
*Al Yankovic – vocals, keyboards
* Jim West – guitars, keyboard programming, backup vocals
* Steve Jay – bass guitar, backup vocals
* Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz – drums, percussion, drum programming
Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mu ...
, backup vocals
;Production[ Note: While "You're Pitiful" did not end up on ''Straight Outta Lynwood'', it was recorded during the same sessions as the other tracks that did. This means that, production-wise, the credits for "You're Pitiful" and ''Straight Outta Lynwood'' are the same.]
*Al Yankovic – producer, arranging
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestratio ...
*Tony Papa – sound engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a sound recording, recording or a Concert, live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization (audio), equalization, Dynamic range ...
ing, mixing
See also
* White & Nerdy music video
* List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic
References
Works cited
*
External links
*
{{Authority control
2006 singles
"Weird Al" Yankovic songs
2006 songs
Songs with lyrics by "Weird Al" Yankovic
Music controversies
Songs written by Amanda Ghost
Songs written by James Blunt
Songs written by Sacha Skarbek