Fat (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Fat" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by "Weird Al" Yankovic | ||
| from the album Even Worse | ||
| Released | April 12, 1988 | |
| Format | 7", 12" | |
| Recorded | February 18, 1988 | |
| Genre | Comedy | |
| Length | 3:55 | |
| Label | Scotti Brothers | |
| Producer(s) | "Weird Al" Yankovic | |
| Chart positions | ||
| "Weird Al" Yankovic singles chronology | ||
| Christmas At Ground Zero (from the album Polka Party!) (1986) |
Fat (1988) |
Lasagna (1988) |
"Fat" is a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a parody of "Bad" by Michael Jackson. It is the second parody Yankovic did of a Jackson song, the first being "Eat It". "Fat" is the first song on Yankovic's Even Worse album.
It has been said that Jackson very much enjoyed the parody. When it came to making the video, Jackson allowed Yankovic to use the same subway setting to get the music video somewhat accurate. Yankovic wears a body suit and mask in the video to expand into a fat man.
Nowadays, when the song is performed in concert, Yankovic wears a fat suit and a mask that makes his face appear fat. He also wears glasses for this song, which were needed to hold the mask on.
[edit] Track Listing
The following tracks are on the single:
- "Fat" – 3:55
- "You Make Me" – 3:04
[edit] Music video
The video is performed by Yankovic in a fat suit, with six very fat dancers. Yankovic simply advertised for "very fat dancers" in a trade journal, and his hunch that such people might exist was soon proven right.
The video for "Fat" parodies various elements of the "Bad" video by Jackson. Here is a list depicting some parody elements:
- The video begins with a non-musical black-and-white scene, as in the original, but it is much shorter. It starts at the subway station with one gang of obese men critising Al for not eating much unhealthy food lately (possibly a parody of real gangsters pressuring unsuspecting kids to try drugs). They try to get Al to eat a slice of pizza, a hamburger and a Ding Dong, which they pull out of their pockets. The original video showed Jackson coming back from college and his old street friends bugging him about going to college and becoming soft.
- The lines "are you fat, or what?" and "You think you're fat? You're nothing!" mimic lines in the original, only using the word "fat" instead of "bad".
- Yankovic has six dancers. The original video has Jackson with twenty dancers.
- The six dancers from Jackson which are now with Yankovic in the video are obese instead of skinny.
- Instead of a troupe of dancers sliding along the ground, the beginning of "Fat" shows Yankovic getting fatter and fatter.
- Yankovic's black outfit is similar to Jackson's, but the buckle and zipper ornamentation is exaggerated.
- Yankovic does Jackson's famous "crotch-grab", but with humorous sound effects added, such as a "boing" and a cowbell.
- When Yankovic tries to jump over the stands on the first bridge of the song, he can't get over. Jackson, by contrast, easily jumps on then off.
- In one musical interlude, Yankovic jumps on a dancer and crushes him. Jackson merely jumps on his shoulder.
- In "Bad," Jackson moves in a circle while the camera follows him. In "Fat," Yankovic does the same thing, but for much longer. Eventually, Yankovic moves too fast, and begins to fly. He grabs a hold of the tripod to not fly away, but loses his grip and flies off.
- When Yankovic flings his arms around, sound effects are heard. This is direct reference to the noises heard when Jackson flings his arms. Yankovic acts confused testing out the sound effect movements, and moves other parts of his body, making other sound effects.
- In "Bad," Jackson and his dancers scream loudly for no reason at random times. Yankovic parodies this by having a scene where he and his dancers scream "Ho!" every now and then. One of the dancers hands Yankovic a particular gardening tool, and Yankovic comments on it by saying "Hoe!" This also occurs when the song is performed live, though, occasionally, a man in a Santa Claus suit comes on stage and is belly-bumped (or, as seen on "Weird Al" Yankovic Live!, punched in the face) by Al.
- The camera follows Yankovic and the other dancers as they run through the station, when Yankovic is handed the gardening tool. After a brief pause, he and the others realize the camera is still moving, and they start to run again, moving even faster to try to get into the camera's viewpoint. Eventually they disappear off-camera. Upon returning to where they left off its discovered that they are now catching their breath from the running that Jackson and his troupe are able to do. Yankovic leans against a pillar and tilts it.
- When Yankovic runs up the steps and removes the air vent cover, the wind in this video is much stronger. Several dancers get blown away, and Yankovic holds up a small windmill-fan to stay standing. A chicken is seen passing by the camera.
- Instead of dancers dancing near the end, we see the dancers bumping into each other. In this scene, the word "FAT" is spray painted on the wall instead of "BAD".
- At one point near the end, Jackson whoops three times in a row. The third time, Yankovic holds up a speech bubble containing the word, "Woo!" instead of actually singing it.
- The wanted poster near the end is different. Instead of, "Wanted for sacrilege," with the word "BAD" below, it states, "Wanted for gluttony," with the word "FAT" underneath.
- The man in the roller skates walks very slowly and with much difficulty, instead of smoothly.
- When Jackson and his group run up the stairs nearing the end one of the dancers does a continuous amount of backflips, in "Fat" one of Al's dancers tries to do a single cartwheel and barely makes it.
- In "Bad," Jackson screams at the end of the video for some unknown reason. In "Fat," Yankovic screams for a reason: his fingers are caught in a mousetrap that seemingly came out of nowhere.
- Finally, at the very end, Yankovic says "Who's fat?", while Jackson says "Who's bad?" Officially, the video stops with a close up shot of Yankovic holding his fist. In "Bad", it stops with Jackson a few feet away from the screen.
[edit] See also
| “Weird Al” Yankovic |
|---|
| Band members |
| "Weird Al" Yankovic • Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz • Steve Jay • Jim West • Rubén Valtierra |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: "Weird Al" Yankovic (1983) • "Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D (1984) • Dare To Be Stupid (1985) • Polka Party! (1986) • Even Worse (1988) • UHF (1989) • Off The Deep End (1992) • Alapalooza (1993) • Bad Hair Day (1996) • Running With Scissors (1999) • Poodle Hat (2003) • Straight Outta Lynwood (2006) |
| List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic • List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic • Complete discography |
| Filmography |
| Music videos • "Al TV" • The Compleat Al • UHF • "The Weird Al Show" • "Weird Al" Yankovic Live! |
| Related articles |
| Singles • Songs • Dr. Demento • Music videos • Parody musicians • Comedy musicians |
