Genius in France

[Alinite27]

Yeah, Manda the range in that song is great! It's definitely my favorite of Al's loong songs.

[SuperOy]

I love this song. I was listening to it today in Business class (we had extra time at the end, so I took out my Discman. Just so happened to have Poodle Hat with me.). I always have a problem while listening to this song. I always laugh out loud, literally. The jokes and the accent Al uses just never get old to me and always make me laugh like a madman. Well, I didn't want to laugh in front of my peers, because that might make me look like an idiot. So I tried to hold it in. I was giggling and chuckling and gave everybody the impression that I was on drugs.

Man I love that song.

[autrefois]

At least one French person doesn't seem to mind GiF too much. I just did a search in Google and came across this page in French talking about GiF. It's a site about Zappa news in French and on the one page it mentions GiF and even gives a fairly good translation into French of the lyrics of the song.

The second paragraph of the intro gives insight on the opinion of the webmaster on the song. Here's what it says, roughly translated by me:

"Although a real hommage to Frank—a completely exceptional work of art since it was done with Dweezil, Zappa's guitarist son—the song is a parody, a veritable catalog of Zappa's stylistic mannerisms. The lyrics are fairly close to Frank's approach in his time (cf In France) and let us know that on the other side of the Atlantic, they really consider us [French people] to be a strange people. This time, and knowing where it's coming from, we can consider it a compliment, since Frank supposedly wants to stay in France forever [in the song?]. It's bordering on political criticism."

So this person saw it mostly as an homage to Frank Zappa, recognizing the French-bashing aspect of it and of Zappa's song "In France". If you look at the lyrics to "In France" by Zappa (which would be rated PG-13 or R, IMHO), he's not too kind to the French, either, and Al uses some of the same images in his song.

It's unclear what the webmaster was referring to when they said it's bordering on political criticism. Based on some errors in the French in the lyrics and the intro, my guess is that the webmaster probably didn't spend weeks thinking about and writing the mini-review on the site.

Although the lyrics might be considered offensive, Weird Al is completely unknown in France aside from this small "blip" from a Zappa fan—so I don't think they will be burning any Weird Al CDs any time soon (in either sense of the word "burn" ).

[Orthography Enthusiast]

It's unclear what the webmaster was referring to when they said it's bordering on political criticism. Based on some errors in the French in the lyrics and the intro, my guess is that the webmaster probably didn't spend weeks thinking about and writing the mini-review on the site.

Thanks for finding that review! I've been wondering what the French thought of that song.

My guess is that the webmaster was thinking of the long history of American expatriates who have relocated to France because they didn't care for the American society of their time. France has wound up with quite a few of our artists, writers and musicians over the years. If he's taking the point of view that Al-in-the-song isn't really an idiot, but is only perceived as an idiot in America, then the political criticism comment makes some sense. But of course Al has said he had no political intentions in the song at all; he was just having fun.

[algonacchick]

Thanks for posting that, autrefois, and thanks for your comments on that as well, OE. It always helps me when people who are more eloquent than I explain things.

Patti

[CatraDhtem]

It's unclear what the webmaster was referring to when they said it's bordering on political criticism.

Perhaps because it could be misinterpreted as a political song? That was, after all, a misconception when the album was released.

[autrefois]

Thanks for your comments about this! I think OE and CatraDhtem both have good points about what the webmaster might have meant about the political side of things. If the person speaking in the song really hated the French, I guess he wouldn't stay there for good, would he?! And considering when it was released, the first thought many people had was then-current American-French relations. It's good Weird Al commented specifically about this song so that we know there isn't any intended political meaning (in theory at least ).

[AMFilms]

Well, he did say "poop." That's about as foul as Al's language gets.
And he did use some uncomplimentary terms for French people. That actually surprised me more than the "poop" did, but then, those terms were placed in the mouth of someone with a self-confessed IQ approximating that of okra, so I guess it's a case of "consider the source." As in, those are the kinds of terms used by really stupid people.

I plan to keep an eye on the French Amazon.com site to see if anybody reviews the album there. Babelfish, here I come!

well, there was

Woofie you B***h in jerry springer

and "hell" in nature trail to hell, and young dumb and ugly, and slut in jerry spribnger, but ya know, the woofie one wasnt al. but i really dont know how chris doesnt like GIF. its on of my faves.

[TheMeccaOfAlbinoPoodles]

Uh... the use of Hell in Amish Paradise is used as the place.

Which isn't a curse.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

And Woofie really IS a b*tch, just like the extremely well-mannered Bela is, in the approved veterinary sense of the word. So that can't really count as a cuss either.