You're Pitiful

"You're Pitiful" is a parody of the James Blunt song "You're Beautiful" written and recorded by American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic. 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, 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.

According to music critic Nathan Rabin, "You're Pitiful" functions as "an amusing character study of the contemporary loser".^[1] 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 and dabbling in amateur Star Trekcosplay.^[2][3]

In early 2006, Yankovic began recording parody songs for his upcoming album Straight Outta Lynwood.^[4] Yankovic initially approached James Blunt and asked if he could record a parody of his hit song "You're Beautiful". Blunt was receptive of the parody idea, and gave Yankovic permission; on April 12, 2006, Yankovic began recording the song.^[4][5] When Yankovic and his record company Volcano announced Straight Outta Lynwood would be released on June 27, 2006, Atlantic Records contacted Yankovic and said that they did not want this parody to be released.^[5]

Atlantic Records temía que "era 'demasiado pronto' en la carrera de James para una parodia, y [...] centrar más atención en 'Beautiful' en ese momento podría llevar a la percepción de James como un ' artista de un solo éxito '". ^{[ 6 ]} A Yankovic le pareció particularmente extraño, porque, según su experiencia, generalmente eran los artistas quienes no querían que se grabaran parodias y no las discográficas (ya que las canciones paródicas generan regalías, que a su vez generan ingresos para la discográfica). Según Yankovic, "No me dijeron que no podía hacer la parodia... solo me dijeron que me avisarían 'cuando fuera el momento adecuado'". ^{[ 6 ]} Por lo tanto, Yankovic y su discográfica pospusieron la fecha de lanzamiento del álbum y cancelaron su próxima gira. Finalmente, meses después, Yankovic recibió una respuesta de Atlantic: "El momento 'adecuado', aparentemente, 'nunca'". ^{[ 6 ]}

Yankovic tenía la política de obtener la aprobación de la compañía discográfica del artista original antes de lanzar sus parodias, pero tras un malentendido en torno a " Amish Paradise ", una parodia de " Gangsta's Paradise " de Coolio , solicitó permiso directamente al artista. Yankovic declaró a NPR que era la primera vez que una discográfica le negaba el lanzamiento de una de sus parodias. ^{[ 5 ]} Dado que Blunt había dado su visto bueno para grabar la parodia, Yankovic señaló que Atlantic no podía prohibirla legalmente: "James Blunt aún podría dejarme incluirla en mi álbum si quisiera, pero obviamente no quiere enemistarse con su propia compañía discográfica... y mi sello podría lanzar la parodia sin la aprobación de Atlantic, pero no quieren entrar en conflicto con otro sello por esto". ^{[ 5 ]} Al final, Yankovic concluyó que el asunto era "más una cuestión política que legal". ^{[ 5 ]}

Because Blunt had no issue with the parody, and because it had already been recorded, Yankovic released it online as a free digital download.^[7] "[I]f 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."^[5][7] 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.^[7] Still needing a lead parody for his album, Yankovic recorded "White & Nerdy" (a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'"). This single would go on to be Yankovic's most-popular song, and his first top 10 Billboard hit.^[1]

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,^[8] which had been submitted to the fansite Al-oholics Anonymous as part of a calendar contest.^[9] The image was later used on Yankovic's official MySpace page, and has since become the de facto cover art for the single.^[10]

The music video for Straight Outta Lynwood's second single, "White & Nerdy", depicts Yankovic taking revenge, of sorts, against Atlantic Records by vandalizing their English Wikipedia article by blanking all text and replacing it with the words "YOU SUCK!" in large letters.^[11] 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.^[12] In addition, the video also shows Yankovic viewing his MySpace page and for a split second, "You're Pitiful" is visible as his profile song.^[13]

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.'"^[14]

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, [James Blunt] won't let me include 'You're Pitiful' on my box set."^[15]

Nathan Rabin wrote that the parody was amusing but that "it was nowhere near as strong as the geek anthem [i.e. 'White & Nerdy'] that would become the first single off [of] 2006's Straight Outta Lynwood".^[1]

In April 2011, Blunt discussed Yankovic and the parody with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 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, and it's just really clever. And for me, that was a more exciting one.^[16]

En la gira de conciertos de Straight Outta Lynwood , Yankovic interpretó la canción inicialmente vistiendo una camisa de manga larga, y progresivamente se quitó la ropa para revelar diferentes capas debajo (como Blunt hace en el video musical de "You're Beautiful"). La penúltima camiseta revelada dice "Atlantic Records apesta". ^{[ 17 ]} Durante su gira de 2010, esta camiseta fue modificada de la original, diciendo "Atlantic Records SIGUE apestando". ^{[ 18 ]} Fue después de que negaran que "You're Pitiful" se incluyera en su álbum de 2011 Alpocalypse . La última camiseta es la cara de Bob Esponja . Luego Yankovic se quitó los pantalones para revelar calzoncillos bóxer con corazones rojos, un tutú rosa y medias de rejilla . ^{[ 17 ]} El atuendo final se reveló por primera vez en 2008.

Miembros de la banda ^{[ 19 ]}

• Al Yankovic – voz, teclados
• Jim West – guitarras, programación de teclados , coros
• Steve Jay – bajo, coros
• Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz – batería, percusión, programación de batería , coros

Producción ^{[ 19 ] [ 20 ]}

• Al Yankovic – productor , arreglista
• Tony Papa – ingeniería de sonido , mezcla

• Vídeo musical de White & Nerdy
• Lista de canciones de "Weird Al" Yankovic

• Yankovic, "Weird Al" (junio de 2006). "You're Pitiful" (MP3) . Recuperado el 22 de enero de 2007 .