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Weird Al Says 'Don't Download This Song'

Posted by Zonk on Tue Aug 22, 2006 05:41 PM
from the really-he-would-like-you-to-though dept.
Music It's funny. Laugh. The Internet
Kazzahdrane writes "Known geek and comedy singer/songwriter Weird Al Yankovic has released the first song from his new album 'Straight Outta Lynwood' for free on his MySpace page. The track is entitled 'Don't Download This Song' and tells of the dangers of illegally downloading music from filesharing sites." His MySpace page is most excellent. "Hi. Al here. No, really, it's Al. Seriously. What, you don't believe me? Go ahead, check weirdal.com. Hit the MySpace link. See if it brings you right back to this page. Go ahead. I'll wait. See? It's really me. I should point out... this means that conversely, all those other people on MySpace who are claiming to be me or implying that they are me... are definitely NOT me. I'm sure they're very nice people... they're just not 'Weird Al' Yankovic. I assure you."

Related Stories

[+] Weird Al Premiere Cancelled Due to Net Leak 266 comments
SilentChris writes "In what's probably a first, AOL cancelled the 'World Premiere' of Weird Al's newest video 'White and Nerdy' due to it being leaked on the internet. Al writes on his MySpace page: 'Apparently, the video has already leaked online, and AOL doesn't feel comfortable doing a World Premiere promotion for a video that a number of people have seen already ... Anyway, it's really a bummer... it would have been great promotion for the album... but hey, life goes on.' As for the video? Arguably Al's best work (but I'm a little biased)."
[+] An Ode To Al 199 comments
bwfcusa16 writes "The Boston Globe has up a feature story on Weird Al in its Sunday edition. The article refers to his staying power as prince of the parody. It's an ode to his determination, talent, and relevance ... and, of course, the funny." From the article: "Novelty artists--and he is one--have a notoriously short lifespan. They age badly, they run out of gags. But Al, by simply refusing to stop, has turned himself into a sort of cultural Geiger counter, ticking and squawking around the hot zones. The oddity of a humorist titling himself like a pro wrestler (there's no "Funny Jerry" Seinfeld) has long since worn off--he's the champ, and he's earned it.
[+] The Dueling Nerdcore Documentaries 164 comments
Colin Reuter writes "There are not one but two feature-length documentary films in the works about the burgeoning nerdcore hip-hop scene. Nerdcore Rising from indie company Vaguely Qualified Productions in NY focuses on the founder of the "movement," MC Frontalot, and features MC Hawking, mc chris, Weird Al Yankovic, Brian Posehn, Daily Show personnel, and dozens of aspiring nerdcore rappers from around the country. The competing movie, Nerdcore For Life from Chicago's Crapbot Productions covers many of the same personalities, getting the backstory on more than twenty young nerd rappers including ytcracker, MC++, and Lords of the Rhymes. With two movies duking it out, the print edition of Wired profiling the rappers, and the Associated Press getting onboard, is nerdcore going to turn into a legitimate subgenre? Or will this always be our dirty little secret?"
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  • E-Card & Video (Score:5, Informative)

    by eldavojohn (898314) * <my/.username@@@gmail.com> on Tuesday August 22 2006, @05:42PM (#15959017)
    (http://slashdot.org/~eldavojohn/ | Last Journal: Tuesday October 16, @03:26PM)
    What a great song. My favorite lyric is:
    Don't download this song
    Even Lars Ulrich knows it's wrong
    Also mentionable is:
    Cause you start off stealing songs
    Then you're robbing liquor stores
    And selling crack and running over school kids with your car!
    You can send this song in an e-card at the URL of the song [dontdownloadthissong.com] (which also hilariously allows you to download this song). You can also listen to it there for those of you who have a proxy blocking MySpace at work or where ever.

    I look forward to the music video that is supposed to air on Yahoo music [yahoo.com] at 10:00 PM Pacific Time tonight (August 22nd).

    Enjoy one of the last artists that is still concerned about his fans and music no matter how hilarious and campy it may be. He has the sense to realize that he's very well off compared to his fans and jokes about solid gold humvees and diamond studded pools.

  • Speaking of Weird Al (Score:5, Funny)

    by nizo (81281) * on Tuesday August 22 2006, @05:43PM (#15959024)
    (http://nizo.deviantart.com/gallery/ | Last Journal: Thursday November 08, @09:27AM)
    I wonder if SCO has licensed his "Dare To Be Stupid" song yet?

    • Re:Speaking of Weird Al (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2006, @05:58PM (#15959115)
      I wonder if SCO has licensed his "Dare To Be Stupid" song yet?


      What do you mean his song? We're talking about SCO here. The real question is "Has Weird Al paid the license fee SCO demanded for his use of their song?"

      [ Parent ]

  • And in other news... (Score:4, Funny)

    by PixieDust (971386) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @05:52PM (#15959078)
    The RIAA begins researching ways to silence this insolent artist who seems hellbent on allowing people to access music (even if it IS his music) for free. They've been cheated out of their share. The following were just decided on by the super secret RIAA meeting on financial vengeance. Step 1. Get Angry Step 2. Talk about how you're cheated. Step 3. Sue Wierd Al and anyone who downloads the song (it says explicitly do NOT download the song,. it's in the title!) Step 4. ???? Step 5. Profit!

  • Weird Al vs MC Lars (Score:5, Funny)

    by therpham (953844) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @05:53PM (#15959083)
    Weird Al and MC Lars should have a rap battle about music piracy. They'd sell millions of records. Or have millions of downloads. Or soemthing.

    • Re:Weird Al vs MC Lars (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Shads (4567) <`shadus' `at' `shadus.org'> on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:20PM (#15959224)
      (http://obruo.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday November 22 2006, @06:34PM)
      Lars... yah, what an asshat. I used to be a big metalica fan, then the whole mess with napster and live recordings and etc... I lost all respect for them as a band, they're trying to get rid of everything that initially 'made' them as a band. F'that.

      Napster BAD! [campchaos.com] (as if you haven't seen it)

      I can understand that artists want to get the money for the work they're doing... I respect that. Hell, I've even mailed artists money in the mail when I've downloaded songs I really liked (prior to itunes mostly) and I've had some good responses back from them doing that and some interesting t-shirts and signed stuff too I might add. Shrug, the whole drm, screw our fans, etc... it just gets on my nerves.

      In the end the fans aren't the only ones hurt the bands are too.
      [ Parent ]

  • Keanu? Is that you? (Score:5, Funny)

    by User 956 (568564) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @05:58PM (#15959110)
    (http://www.atomjax.com/)
    His MySpace page is most excellent.

    Was this summary written by Keanu Reeves?

  • Another free song (Score:5, Interesting)

    by RyoShin (610051) <tukaroNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:02PM (#15959138)
    (http://www.tukaro.com/ | Last Journal: Monday September 17, @12:54AM)
    Looks like his actual site server is getting trashed, but the last time I was there you could download another song, "You're Pitiful".

    It's pretty app when thinking about the steretypical Slashdot person. :o

    From what I can remember, he put it online because some copyright/trademark thing kept him from using it on the next album. Not sure what it was, though. It looks like you can at least listen to it on his MySpace page.

    One thing I love about Weird Al's songs is that he does his research. In the song from this "article", he mentions such things as Kazaa. In "All about the Pentiums", he throws out a lot of technical terms.

    Weird Al is one of my favorite people ever. He's pretty good to his fans, he fights the true fight, and is hilarious to boot. I can't wait for this next album.

  • Pfft (Score:5, Funny)

    by The MAZZTer (911996) <megazzt@gmail.MONETcom minus painter> on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:08PM (#15959166)
    (http://blog.mzzt.net/)
    Weird Al doesn't tag his MP3s when he rips them. For shame.
    • Re:Pfft by Andrew Kismet (Score:2) Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:46PM
      • Re:Pfft by BootNinja (Score:1) Wednesday August 23 2006, @08:18AM
    • Re:Pfft by hejpig (Score:1) Wednesday August 23 2006, @02:44AM

  • A link to MySpace... hmm... (Score:4, Funny)

    by ewl1217 (922107) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:08PM (#15959167)
    Somebody please tell me that got Slashdotted...
  • Hmm, maybe it is a fake.

  • zerg (Score:2)

    by Lord Omlette (124579) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:14PM (#15959197)
    (http://www.omletteso...hp3?who=Lord+Omlette)
    I'm reminded of MC Frontalot's Charity Case [frontalot.com], where he's "begging ya'll to believe his CD isn't free!"

  • MC Lars (Score:3, Informative)

    by unixbum (720776) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:19PM (#15959218)
    I think MC Lars had it better:
    Download this song [myspace.com]
    • Re:MC Lars by cloricus (Score:2) Tuesday August 22 2006, @07:11PM

  • Best commentary on downloading since Tapster (Score:1)

    by Megane (129182) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:22PM (#15959235)
    Back in 2000, Spinal Tap (sorry, I don't have a n-umlaut key on my keyboard) borrowed the domain tapster.com [theregister.co.uk] from some sort of brewery interest web site to put up a parody of Napster. Contrary to Nigel's

    • Re:Best commentary on downloading since Tapster (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Megane (129182) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:25PM (#15959248)

      Crap. I hit submit by accident.

      Back in 2000, Spinal Tap (sorry, I don't have a n-umlaut key on my keyboard) borrowed the domain tapster.com [theregister.co.uk] from some sort of brewery interest web site to put up a parody of Napster. Contrary to Nigel's comment, they actually had a lot of songs up there, mostly Spinal Tap, but they did have at least one "mislabeled" song, which was Zappa's "I am the Slime".

      But the Tapster curse lives on, and even the "orignal" tapster.com is no more.

      [ Parent ]

  • Speaking of myspace (Score:5, Interesting)

    by hmccabe (465882) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:41PM (#15959316)

    Since we're already spending so much time here and acting like junior high kids, I want myspace style slashdot profiles. Imagine what this would do to the community. When you read a post and think to yourself "Overweight, Undersexed Wow junkie" you can click the link and see their photos to confirm your suspicions. Plus, think of the fun we'd all have writing the CSS code to design our pages. Instead of harping on people for their grammar, we could point out how their profile page isn't XHTML compliant.

    Taco would be everybody's friend by default, but if you're friends with the real CowboyNeal (or a girl) you would totally put that in your top eight.

    Our mail system would be IMAP though

  • myspace still up? (Score:1)

    by hollowedOut (940591) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:48PM (#15959356)
    has the slashdot effect failed? or not kicked in yet? seriously, weirdal.com is toast, but myspace is still chugging along.

    will nothing slay this horrid beast?

  • Direct Link (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2006, @07:01PM (#15959415)
    For those without flash: http://www.dontdownloadthissong.com/tracks/DDTS.mp 3 [dontdownloadthissong.com]
    • Re:Direct Link by dtfinch (Score:2) Tuesday August 22 2006, @09:23PM
      • Re:Direct Link by dtfinch (Score:3) Tuesday August 22 2006, @09:39PM
      • Re:Direct Link by poodlehat (Score:1) Wednesday August 23 2006, @04:01PM
    • Re:Direct Link by Workaphobia (Score:1) Tuesday August 22 2006, @11:24PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.

  • It's all about the Pentiums baby (Score:1)

    by maxrate (886773) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @07:21PM (#15959489)
    As the subject line suggests....

  • OMFG - the label! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ph33r th3 g(O)at (592622) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @07:49PM (#15959584)
    Weird Al is distributed under a faux independent label, Volcano Records, which is owned by Sony BMG, who brought us intrusive DRM and is a proud part of the RIAA intellectual "property" lawsuit cartel. Now I have to get a new goddamned movement for my irony meter!

    • Re:OMFG - the label! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2006, @08:23PM (#15959708)
      Weird Al is distributed under a faux independent label, Volcano Records, which is owned by Sony BMG, who brought us intrusive DRM and is a proud part of the RIAA intellectual "property" lawsuit cartel. Now I have to get a new goddamned movement for my irony meter!

      Weird Al was originally on a very obscure indie label called "Scotti Brothers." Its name was changed to "Volcano" when another label bought them out, then that label was co-opted by Sony BMG. So yes, he is distributed by Sony, but it's not exactly a diabolical plan on Weird Al's part. Actually I have friends who were in another band on the "Scotti Brothers" label, and found themselves in effect Sony artists. Which is not a good thing, because Sony won't honor the Scotti Bros. terms or release them from the contract-- so their first few CDs are basically buried forever.

      This actually happens quite a bit with Indie bands, they sign contracts with small labels (which are usually somewhat vague, as neither have access to top-notch entertainment lawyers) and the labels are bought out by the majors-- and the bands find themselves having to deal with exactly the people they were trying to avoid.

      [ Parent ]

  • i need funny moderation for the story (Score:1)

    by siddesu (698447) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @08:03PM (#15959633)
    (Last Journal: Friday February 02 2007, @12:54AM)
    this is the kind of stuff needed to counter the IFPI/RIAA and what you not BS PR spin about "stealing music". We have to keep making the point that it is the big digital wrongs management companies who are actually the biggest theives - they rob us of our culture, kill the public domain, subvert copyright laws to perpetuate monopoly, which was granted with the opposite goal in mind, and, last but not least, ruin the future by getting force-feeding junk-food quality music. :)

  • Better call Alanis. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Gothic_Walrus (692125) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @09:10PM (#15959853)
    (Last Journal: Thursday August 11 2005, @05:50PM)
    The (semi-ironic) twist here?

    The album, according to Amazon, is being released as a DualDisc, and that means that some computers and players won't be able to handle the album [wikipedia.org]. Of three computers in my dorm room last year, none of them could play the newest Springsteen album.

    Because of the format choice, there might be some people that don't have any choice but to download the song, either legally (assuming iTunes sells it like they do some of his other albums) or through other means.

  • C'mon people! (Score:2)

    by Loconut1389 (455297) * on Tuesday August 22 2006, @09:44PM (#15959963)
    (http://webtrotter.com/blog)
    Will someone just post the lyrics and the guitar tab already?!

  • I didn't make it through the song (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by sjonke (457707) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @09:48PM (#15959975)
    (Last Journal: Monday August 21 2006, @11:53AM)
    I'm sure this song is funny, but the music is absolutely unbearable. I suppose that's the point, but I still couldn't listen to it.

  • Nice work, Al (Score:1)

    by LindseyJ (983603) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @09:58PM (#15960014)
    I like this song a lot. So much, in fact, that I am going to be purchasing Weird Al's CD. Oh, the irony.

  • Argh! A Geek tragedy, complete with DeusExMachina. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Workaphobia (931620) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @10:08PM (#15960052)
    (Last Journal: Tuesday August 22 2006, @10:59PM)
    Our story begins with a skim over the day's Slashdot headlines. The regulars are all present: Government X adopts OSS/ODF, Mr. Nobody gives a loose overview of security problem Y, and SCO does transparently underhanded deed Z. Yet one topic in particular grabs my attention...

    Being a Weird Al fan, and well-aware of the problems he has collecting from his label, my mind registers the topic both as a must-Read-More and as another chapter to take note of in the long saga of digital music rights. With significant anticipation, I add it to my other fifteen or so open tabs and proceed to work my way through my article reading queue.

    I (grudgingly) visit myspace, but something's amiss. There is no download link! Nothing in the navigation menu, the news posts, or the comments make mention of where I can obtain the song, yet visitors proceed to comment on how much they enjoyed it. Looking for an alternate link, I return to Slashdot, only to find more reactions without mention of any download difficulties. And so I begin to worry irrationally: "I'm the only one in the world who can't listen to Weird Al!" I've had usability issues with myspace before, but normally after a minute or so of misguided clicking I'm able to stumble upon something that hints at actual content. I try two other domains, weirdal.com and dontdownloadthissong.com, only to find the former hopelessly slashdotted and the latter unusable. My frustration continues to build.

    I reflect that perhaps it is a browser compatability issue - I am using Konqueror after all - and try my luck with firefox. After configuring it to *not* attempt DNS queries over IPv6, that I might reach the content I so desperately seek this century, I find that myspace persists to mock me. It is as if some divine administrative force knows my IP address and has modified the web server specifically to torment me.

    I search for torrent files - first through links from kind slashdotters looking to boost their karma, and when that fails, via KTorrent's integrated search plugin. Bittorrent.com? No matches. Isohunt.com? Nada. Mininova? Bytenova? Torrentspy?! My heart races as I continue to exhaust the list of built-in known search engines, until... Aha! The Pirate Bay has found one match, uploaded a mere twenty-two minutes ago.

    But to use a torrent from the most infamous peer-to-peer site in existence, what would that make me? Is the torrent legal? Just because Weird Al chooses to distribute it on his webpage doesn't mean he releases that right to others. I'm sure under these circumstances he couldn't possibly mind, but not having heard of the song's existence prior to reading Slashdot, I simply do not know the record label's stance on the matter, or whether they even have partial rights over this particular mp3. But it does not matter - I must have the song!

    The irony - that I am bittorrenting a free-as-in-beer song that possesses a satirical name mocking filesharing litigation, and am potentially committing a copyright violation in the process - is not lost on me. My idealistic side taunts the RIAA, "I just DARE you to try to sue me over this, my only infringement!" My pessimistically pragmatic side notes that the unusual circumstances would make no difference, as I would be forced to settle, and never see my day in court anyway.

    I emerge from my digression to the present.
    No peers or seeders. For the moment, the music industry and other enemies of Peer-to-Peer breathe a sigh of relief.

    Then it occurs to me that the song might be unreachable to those who have not installed the dreaded Flash Plugin. But why? A slashdot commenter mentions that the song is indeed in the mp3 format, so it is not as if my lack of such a player could possibly prevent me from obtaining this song. For what kind of sick madman would consign a publically-downloadable mp3 to the clutches of a proprietary system and that system alone?

    As a rule, I have abstained from using Flash on my desktop's Gentoo installation. This self-denial is due to a combination of fac

  • much irony indeed: (Score:1)

    by neminem (561346) <neminem&gmail,com> on Tuesday August 22 2006, @10:35PM (#15960146)
    (http://www3.hmc.edu/~afield)
    * I found out about Weird Al in 8th grade or thereabouts, when a friend of mine made me a copy of his cassette of Bad Hair Day, Al's most recent album at the time. Not long after, Napster became big, and I downloaded every Weird Al song I could find (despite not having dsl yet; I was working off a 56k connection). Then I went out and bought a bunch of cds. * I wasn't sure whether I was going to bother preordering it, or wait to hear the opinions of others' before buying it (not that I should really have any doubt in Weird Al's talent, but it's always nice to be sure). But, after downloading this song, and loving it, I immediately went and preordered the cd. * The other factor leading me to really want this cd: I read that it contains instrumental tracks of all of its songs. I enjoy messing around with song sampling, and I've wanted to mix a Weird Al song for *ages*. One would assume he'd have problem with that, but his label might... * On that note... the track is hosted on a server owned by Volcano Records, which is owned by Zomba Music Group, which is owned by BMG.

  • Suck it, RIAA! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Bushido Hacks (788211) on Wednesday August 23 2006, @01:23AM (#15960600)
    (http://www.bushidohacks.com/ | Last Journal: Friday November 02, @02:44PM)
    In between the lawsuits against dead war veterans, flooding the USENET alt.binaries groups with Russian child porn (DIAF, you sick commie bastards!), and making Paris Hilton and Kevin Federline CDs--which will make great clay pidegons when it reaches to dollar store next month--RIAA's taste in music is about as bad as the food in an unplugged fridge in Phoenix.

    This song was not long enough.

    On the other hand, Al points out the fallacies that have been used to discourage downloading such as a slippery slope, threats of damnation, and treatment worse than violent criminals. Al would win a Grammy for this song if the people at RIAA weren't evil.

  • Gig of the 21st Century...Artists vs RIAA (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Solo-Malee (618168) on Wednesday August 23 2006, @01:44AM (#15960652)
    I see a trend here...

    Wierd Al
    MC Lars
    Cruisbox http://audiopium.typepad.com/thatpodcastsong/ [typepad.com]

    Can anyone else out there imagine a Live Aid style gig to raise funds to pay lawyers to go up against the RIAA...

  • Release as a Single! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Solo-Malee (618168) on Wednesday August 23 2006, @01:53AM (#15960676)
    Can you imagine the irony, if this was released as a single and it went to Number 1 ...then again, everyone would download it anyway, so it would never get anywhere. But, just for a moment imagine that...

  • No please DON'T Download this song... (Score:2, Funny)

    by frostilicus2 (889524) on Wednesday August 23 2006, @05:38AM (#15961194)
    Weird Al, How could you? An MP3 encoded at 96 kbs at 22.05 kHz...

    Today a piece of my inner audiophile died.

  • God that guy rules. (Score:1)

    by EddyPearson (901263) on Wednesday August 23 2006, @06:08AM (#15961263)
    You gotta love the guy, no matter what is happening in the world, he stays on the bright side and takes the piss. Great song, great album, great guy.

    You've gotta see some of his Celeb interview spoofs, the Eminem one is hilarious.

    P.S Today my captcha is "emolish", is this some kind of gruel like food, resembling goulash, but made from emos? Cos i'm sold!
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.

  • Weird Al (Score:1)

    by CodemasterMM (943136) on Wednesday August 23 2006, @07:27AM (#15961531)
    (http://www.quantumraiders.com/)
    Weird Al is probably one of the best artists out there currently. He is at least knowledgeable and caring about the industry. This is why the only CDs I have bought in the last decade are his.

  • Send E-CARD to RIAA? (Score:2)

    by Tsu Dho Nimh (663417) <<abacaxi> <at> <hotmail.com>> on Wednesday August 23 2006, @08:01AM (#15961705)
    http://dontdownloadthissong.com/ [dontdownloadthissong.com] let's you send an e-card.

    Does anyone know some email addresses for the RIAA lawyers? I'd love to send it to them.

  • Slashdot tagging (Score:1)

    by szembek (948327) on Wednesday August 23 2006, @08:10AM (#15961762)
    (http://www.zembek.net/)
    Notice the tag 'weird'. I think Slashdot should strip spaces instead of just cutting off the tag from the space on. I'm assuming a lot of people tried putting in 'weird al'. -1 Offtopic...

  • full lyrics (Score:2)

    by dmd (404) <dmd@3e.oUUUrg minus threevowels> on Wednesday August 23 2006, @08:26AM (#15961880)
    (http://www.3e.org/)
    Once in a while maybe you will feel the urge
    To break international copyright law
    By downloading mp3s from file-sharing sites
    Like Morpheus or Grokster or Limewire or KaZaA
    But deep in your heart you know the guilt would drive you mad
    And the shame would leave a permanent scar
    'Cause you start out stealing songs, and then you're robbing liquor stores
    And selling crack and running over school kids with your car

    So don't download this song
    The record store's where you belong
    Go and buy the CD like you know that you should
    Oh, don't download this song

    Oh, you don't wanna mess with the RIAA
    They'll sue you if you burn that CD-R
    It doesn't matter if you're a grandma or a 7-year-old girl
    They'll treat you like the evil, hard-bitten criminal scum you are

    So don't download this song
    Don't go pirating music all day long
    Go and buy the CD like you know that you should
    Oh, don't download this song

    Don't take away money from artists just like me
    How else can I afford another solid gold Humvee?
    And diamond-studded swimming pools, these things don't grow on trees
    So all I ask is, everybody, please...

    Don't download this song
    Even Lars Ulrich knows it's wrong
    Go and buy the CD like you know that you should
    Oh, don't download this song...
    Don't download this song
    Or you might wind up in jail like Tommy Chong
    Go and buy the CD like you know that you should
    Oh, don't download this song...
    Don't download this song
    Or you'll burn in Hell before too long
    Go and buy the CD like you know that you should
    Oh, don't download this song

  • reminds me of (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2006, @08:52AM (#15962074)
    "Please Play This Song On The Radio" - NOFX

    We wrote this song, it's not too short, not too long
    It's got back-up vocals in just the right places (in just the right places)
    It's got a few oohs and ahhs (oooh aaah)
    And it takes a little pause
    Just before I sing the F word

    Please play this song on the radio

    Almost every line is sung on time
    Almost every verse ends in a rhyme
    The only problem we had was writing enough words
    (oooh aaah)
    But that's okay, because the chorus is
    Coming up again now

    Please play this song on the radio
    Please play this song on the radio

    Please play this song on the radio
    Please play this song on the radio
    Please play this song on the radio
    Please play this song on the radio
    Please play this song on the radio (please play this song)
    Please play this song on the radio (please play this song)

    Right about this time
    Some shit head will be drawin a fat fuckin' line
    Over the title on the back sleave
    What an asshole!
    So Mr. DJ I hope you've already made your segue
    Or the FCC is gonna take a shit right on your head

    Can't play this song on the radio (can't play this song)
    Can't play this song on the radio (can't play this song)

  • His myspace remembers me of.... (Score:1)

    by SEG7 (892441) on Thursday August 24 2006, @07:18AM (#15968757)
    ...this chit chat i had a few years ago over IRC! Anybody here from theese conversation? Pretty whacked!
    hey calis Hi Calis yo hi Calis (even though I don't know you!) :) You don't know Calis ? Shame on you :) :) SHAME ON YOU! So, Calis, who are you? Well, I'm pretty sure I'm me. lol if u are me who am i ? :) You're lucky You are you, of course. I always though I was me After 2 years in therapy I still don't know who I am Don't be silly. I am me. so u are me and i am u ! ok! got it Are you sure you're not me ? Yep. Maybe you're me and I don't know it I'm you I think you would notice if I were you. Why I would be smart, rich and incredibly beautiful ? :P lol - look what I've started here! who started me or u? :)

  • Re:p1st fr0st (Score:3, Funny)

    by Kesch (943326) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @05:50PM (#15959069)
    Hi, I'm part of the reality squad. I feel it is my duty to inform you that you did not get p1st fr0st. Sadly, you recieved the far less prestigous p1rd th0st.
    [ Parent ]

  • Ascii illustration (Score:5, Funny)

    by Bobdoer (727516) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @05:50PM (#15959072)
    (http://longc.at/ | Last Journal: Sunday February 22 2004, @09:46PM)
    Joke:   ->
    You:     O
            /|\
            / \
    [ Parent ]

  • Re:No problem (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Charcharodon (611187) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @05:54PM (#15959089)
    I will down load it twice, just to show you.

    Really if you don't like Weird Al then you must have been unloved as a child.

    [ Parent ]
    • Re:No problem by colmore (Score:2) Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:50PM

      • Re:No problem (Score:4, Insightful)

        by DuckDodgers (541817) <keeper_of_the_wolf@nospAM.yahoo.com> on Tuesday August 22 2006, @09:20PM (#15959886)
        I own all of them, actually. Anywhere from 1-5 songs per album is an original that parodies a genre or a particular musician without mimicking any single song.

        I like to sing. Because Al has jokes in his lyrics, he usually does a really good job speaking clearly so the listener can get the jokes. I could sing along with Smells Like Nirvana the second time I heard it. I still don't know all of the words to Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, and I've heard that dozens of times. Weird Al is one of the only musicians whose lyrics I never need to look up after hearing a song.

        I also have a taste for really bad puns and silly jokes. That's a help too.

        If you have a less silly sense of humor, I can respect that. If you don't like the voice... I have many friends who go berserk for Rush, and I can't listen to their lead singer without wanting to shove a pencil through my ears. So I can respect that too.
        [ Parent ]
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  • Re:I bought his last album (Score:2)

    by shawnmchorse (442605) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @05:56PM (#15959101)
    (http://www.rockymusic.org/)
    That's odd, I had no problem whatsoever ripping my Poodle Hat CD into MP3s. Did this happen only in certain regions or something?
    [ Parent ]
  • "Interesting how he assumes that most people would want to download his music."

    Or how you assume everyone has the same opinion as you? Some of his songs are funny, some are not, but Amish Paradise, Fat, and the Saga begins are fantastic, not to mention the music videos.

    [ Parent ]

  • Re:I bought his last album (Score:1)

    by ArmedLemming (18042) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @05:59PM (#15959119)
    Hmm, I've never had any problems playing Poodle Hat [wikipedia.org] on anything. I've ripped the CD and have been listening to it on my computer and mp3 player for years now... *shrug*
    [ Parent ]
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  • Re:No problem (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:00PM (#15959123)
    Pfft, yeah. He only has 6 platinum records, and 3 gold [wikipedia.org]. You told him!
    [ Parent ]

  • Re:No problem (Score:2)

    by Randseed (132501) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:02PM (#15959140)
    Particularly since his web site doesn't offer a direct link, but instead flat-out doesn't work on my system. Nice.
    [ Parent ]

  • Re:Okay, where? (Score:1)

    by Scorchmon (305172) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:10PM (#15959176)
    Took me a few minutes to find it, but just go here:

    http://www.dontdownloadthissong.com/ [dontdownloadthissong.com]
    [ Parent ]

  • Re:I bought his last album (Score:1)

    by fohat (168135) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:19PM (#15959221)
    (http://fohat.wordpress.com/)
    I'm not finding anything to support the OP's claim. Care to back up the statement that Poodle Hat contained DRM?
    [ Parent ]

  • Re:I bought his last album (Score:5, Informative)

    by pezpunk (205653) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:19PM (#15959223)
    (http://www.theoverprivileged.com/)
    like the other commenters, i too had no trouble with Poodle Hat.

    in addition, as for Al's supposed anti-downloading stance, it should be mentioned that he is in a somewhat unique position: literally hundreds of songs that AREN'T his are constantly attributed to him on file sharing systems, just because they're (ostensibly) "funny". Al maintains a relatively innocent, upbeat personna, but many of the songs misattributed to him are stupid, mean spirited, or far raunchier than anything Al would want to be associated with. it's a significant problem for the guy that goes much deeper than simple lost royalties.

    that said, every time i've heard him asked about file sharing, that is how he has framed his response. he doesn't want people to think he wrote "smoke a bowla"
    [ Parent ]

  • Re:I bought his last album (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:23PM (#15959238)
    He's not stupid. He's well aware that the music people are most likely to download free of charge rather than pay for is the stuff they have no intention of keeping long-term. (If you really like a song, and are still going to like listening to it five years down the road, you'll happily shell out for a CD).

    That category covers Weird Al's entire catalogue rather nicely, though. Really, his songs are mildly amusing for the first few times you hear them - maybe a couple dozen at most. They're not particularly well played / sung / recorded, the lyrics aren't amazingly incisive and won't stick with you in any meaningful way - they're just a source of a quick chuckle. Weird Al more than most is probably feeling the pinch as his bottom line fades away. Really, when was the last time anybody around here listened to "Eat It" or "Like a Surgeon"? The songs he parodied live on much better than the parodies do, and even the originals are getting a bit long in the tooth.

    I'm not shedding a tear or excusing him though - he needs to find a way to market his product that caters to its short-lived nature. Realistically, that probably means he needs to be making his money from things like non-stop live performances in small venues around the country, where fans can get up close to him, for a period of several months after he releases a new album. It's hard work, but it is a lot more honest work than expecting to make a mint off sales of an overpriced product people were forced into buying because you don't give them a pricing option that befits the lack of replay value.
    [ Parent ]

  • Re:I bought his last album (Score:5, Informative)

    by RonnyJ (651856) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @06:27PM (#15959255)
    I'm just wondering where you got this previous 'anti-download' stance of his from? Weird Al does an 'Ask Al' page and here's a quote from 2000 (it's on his website, but it's down at the moment so I can't link):

    I have very mixed feelings about [Napster]. On one hand, I'm concerned that the rampant downloading of my copyright-protected material over the Internet is severely eating into my album sales and having a decidedly adverse effect on my career. On the other hand, I can get all the Metallica songs I want for FREE! WOW!!!!!

    He's previously said that his biggest problem with internet downloading is that many files on the internet are incorrectly labelled with him as the artist, some of these being much more offensive than his actual material.

    [ Parent ]

  • Re:No problem (Score:3, Funny)

    by Nutria (679911) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @07:18PM (#15959478)
    Never liked much of his other music though.

    Not like Weird Al? You must be Communist. Or live in Oregon. Or both.

    [ Parent ]
    • Re:No problem by edflyerssn007 (Score:1) Tuesday August 22 2006, @08:50PM
    • Re:No problem by Phroggy (Score:2) Tuesday August 22 2006, @09:31PM
    • Re:No problem by tfurrows (Score:1) Tuesday August 22 2006, @10:40PM

  • Re:Fear mongoring (Score:2, Insightful)

    by kingturkey (930819) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @08:27PM (#15959724)
    Woosh!
    [ Parent ]

  • Re:I bought his last album (Score:2)

    by GaryPatterson (852699) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @09:14PM (#15959865)
    Ah, but you clearly bought the "Made especially to irritate shaze" edition, which was a one-off production.

    No other person on the planet shares your problem, but hey! It's clearly our fault!
    [ Parent ]

  • Re:MC Frontalot did it first and better (Score:1)

    by LindseyJ (983603) on Tuesday August 22 2006, @10:02PM (#15960036)
    Elvis sang love songs way before most of today's bands, and he did it better.

    Every other band who sings about love is ripping Elvis off. [/sarcasm... Sort of]
    [ Parent ]

  • Re:I bought his last album (Score:2)

    by ajs318 (655362) <sd_resp2&earthshod,co,uk> on Wednesday August 23 2006, @09:36AM (#15962405)
    1. Download Slax [linux-live.org]
    2. Boot up with slax copy2ram
    3. Login as root, password toor
    4. Swap Slax CD with music CD
    5. Navigate to some writeable directory under /mnt/. Useful commands {this is by no means a full unix primer}: ls to list contents of directory. Blue is a directory, green is executable, red is compressed, cyan is a shortcut, magenta is a media file, yellow is a device, white is a boring old file.cd to change directory, cd .. to go to parent directory, mkdir to make a new directory. TAB key auto-completes a filename after typing first few chars, cursor up/down to go back/forward through command history. Remember there are 52 letters in the alphabet.
    6. # cdparanoia -B
    This procedure is believed to get around all known DRM, even on PCs infected by the Sony Rootkit.
    [ Parent ]
  • 18 replies beneath your current threshold.

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