Weird Al Yankovic

So I take an artist that I really like that has a very unique style, like Frank Zappa or Brian Wilson.

Yeah, that kind of thing.

And just study their whole oeuvre and figure out kind of what makes them tick.

And then write a song in their style, but make it a little bit weird, you know?

You know, I probably could, but I'm kind of anal in that way that I really like to study for a long period of time.

Like, when I did Frank Zappa, I listened to his catalog literally for a month before I started even writing something because I wanted it to, like, infiltrate my brain.

Right.

It's way harder.

It involves a lot more work.

The parodies, you know, back when I first started out, I would, like, dash off a parody in, like, 20 minutes because I figured, who cares, you know?

Nobody's going to...

even listen to this thing.

And now that, oh, people are listening, so I better, like, spend some time.

I learned a long time ago, first of all, the accordion is my main act.

So when you grow up taking accordion lessons, they don't teach you Led Zeppelin.

They teach you polka and some classical pieces.

And I learned a long time ago that most rock songs just sound a little better than polka style.

So I base a lot of my career around that.

Gregorian chants are hard.

I'm working on that.