Quotes By Al Yankovic

If something is good enough, it can be out there and people will see it.

At this point I've got a bit of a track record. So people realize that when 'Weird Al' wants to go parody, it's not meant to make them look bad... it's meant to be a tribute.

As my father used to tell me, the only true sign of success in life is being able to do for a living that which makes you happy.

You still have Top 40 radio now, but it's 40 different stations. There aren't many hits that everybody knows, and there aren't many real superstars.

So that's why one of my rules of parody writing is that it's gotta be funny regardless of whether you know the source material. It has to work on its own merit.

I did have a child, and I was reading a lot of picture books to her, but at the same time writing a children's book was something that I'd been wanting to do for many years, pretty much since the start of my career.

Somebody will come up to me after a show and have me sign their arm, and the next time I see them my autograph has been permanently inscribed on their arm.

I suppose I had my rock star fantasies while I was singing into my hairbrush in the bathroom mirror, but I never really consciously said, 'OK, this is what I'm going to do for a living and I'm going to be Weird Al.'

I don't think there are any new media I'd like to cover.

Whenever I do a parody it's not meant to make you hate anybody's music really.

A lot of rap songs don't usually have a lot of melody per se.

If I could find the right kind of property, get tied in with the right movie, I'd love to be involved, but I just find it hard to be motivated to do another screenplay right now.

Like, I have had moments, which I think most people have, where you'll be watching TV, and it'll be interrupted by some tragic event, and you'll actually find yourself thinking, 'I don't want to hear about this train being derailed! What happened to 'The Flintstones?''

When I was a kid, I thought I was going to be an architect, because when I was 12 years old I had a guidance counselor that convinced me that that was the best career choice for me.

There aren't that many superstars around anymore.

I'm obviously not a rapper, and I don't have any claims to be one, really.

I know now that everything I write, I'm going to put out, and I'll have to live with it for the rest of my life.

How can you get bored if the audience is cheering and laughing at something you're doing?

Some people want to advertise their weirdness, and spread it out, that's not me.

I make charts of songs that are good candidates, good targets, so to speak. Then I try to come up with ideas for parodies. And 99% of those ideas are horrible.

I have a long-standing history of respecting artists' wishes.

The irony is of course that my career has lasted a whole lot longer than some of the people I've parodied over the years.

It's hard to really articulate what the parameters are that make one song parody-able and another song not, but if I can come up with a good enough idea for it, I go for it, and if not, then I have to move on.

I write and write and write, and then I edit it down to the parts that I think are amusing, or that help the storyline, or I'll write a notebook full of ideas of anecdotes or story points, and then I'll try and arrange them in a way that they would tell a semi-cohesive story.

I mean, I hate to gloat, but I'm extremely satisfied with my position in life and the way things have worked out for me.

Pop culture's gotten much more disposable.

My hobbies just sort of gradually became my vocation.

People never ask people doing serious music, 'Do you ever think about doing funny music?'

I can't get too offended when somebody parodies me.

By the time I'm in the studio recording my parody, 10,000 parodies of that song are on YouTube.