Don't Download This Song

Whatinthe27 · Post by **Whatinthe27** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:59 am

darbus @ Jul 20 2006, 04:22 PM wrote: True. All of this is speculation and opinion until we get closer to 9/26. (I can't wait! I can't wait!!)

The thing that makes me want to doubt this parody is that both We Are the World, and the whole illegally downloading files moral dilema are old news. Heck, it's so old that the Napster thing had it's day in court and the case has concluded. I can see doing a parody of a newer song on the subject, but doing a parody of an old song about an old subject... If there is a parody of We Are the World on this new album, i hope it's intertwined with another song, a song with-in a song if you will.. like Blame it on the Drain inside of Don't Forget My Plumber.
Now if he were to take, Black Eyed Peas Don't Funk with my Heart, and turned it into "no, no, no, no, Don't Download This Song" and had it morph into We Are the World, that would be cool.

- Sam

Post by **Bruce the Duck** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 3:11 pm

Whatinthe27 @ Jul 20 2006, 11:59 PM wrote: The thing that makes me want to doubt this parody is that both We Are the World, and the whole illegally downloading files moral dilema are old news. Heck, it's so old that the Napster thing had it's day in court and the case has concluded. I can see doing a parody of a newer song on the subject, but doing a parody of an old song about an old subject... If there is a parody of We Are the World on this new album, i hope it's intertwined with another song, a song with-in a song if you will.. like Blame it on the Drain inside of Don't Forget My Plumber.
Now if he were to take, Black Eyed Peas Don't Funk with my Heart, and turned it into "no, no, no, no, Don't Download This Song" and had it morph into We Are the World, that would be cool.

- Sam

But with "The Plumbing Song" and "Bedrock Anthem," he was combining two songs by the same artist. What connection is there between "We ARe the World" and "Don't Funk With My Heart?" Nothing. It wouldn't make any sense to group the two together.

I mentioned a long time ago that "Don't Funk With My Heart" would have made good fodder for a song titled "Don't Download This Song." But the spoiler that we got a long time ago had it as a parody of "We Are the World." While it is feasible that someone got their facts wrong and it's actually a STYLE parody, I don't think they would get the facts so distorted that they would confuse two completely different songs that are two decades apart.

mrmeadows · Post by **mrmeadows** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 8:01 pm

What hasn't been discussed much about this purported song is that whether it's a direct parody of "We Are the World" or even a style parody of a WATW-type benefit song. . .how the

is Al going to pull that off??? I mean, a benefit song like WATW implies that a multitude of celebrities and singers are involved with the project. As Darbus theorizes, the joke of DDTS could easily be a bunch of "starving" musicians uniting against illegal downloading. Fair (and funny) enough.

BUT. . .

As huge a talent as Al is, he isn't Rich Little or Phil Hendrie when it comes to doing voices. How is he going to sing "all the parts"? WATW had such diverse voices as Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, Dionne Warwick, and even Dan freakin' Ackroyd!!

Is it possible that Al has recruited celebrity friends to help him out on this one? Heck, it would be cool if he got the original recording artists from WATW to pitch in, but that's doubtful. Still, it is possible that he could wrangle up some buddies in the biz to sing on DDTS, isn't it? It would be a departure for Al, but as long as Al was featured somewhere in the song, it could work. Otherwise, I don't see how Al could make a concept like this fly.

Or the other possibility is that DDTS itself is a red herring, and Al got Bill Plympton to say that just to throw people off.

Meadows

Website · Post by **Teh Dingo** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 8:28 pm

mrmeadows @ Jul 21 2006, 02:01 PM wrote:

Or the other possibility is that DDTS itself is a red herring, and Al got Bill Plympton to say that just to throw people off.

That's actually been my theory all along. I'm just going with the crowd for now

Yankovic Farley · Post by **Yankovic Farley** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:12 pm

I actually kind of hope this is a red herring. Of course, if it's not then I'm sure I'll still like it.

CatraDhtem · Post by **CatraDhtem** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:21 pm

I don't know, the red herring theory seems like a bit of a stretch considering the small audience such a ruse would be intended for, and the fact that Al would need to get the participation of a fairly well-known animator. I would hope Al would remain on a higher comedic level than, say, Ashton Kutcher.

Yankovic Farley · Post by **Yankovic Farley** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:25 pm

If it is the truth, think of all the artists Al is on a friendly basis with from interacting with so many over the years. Madonna, Billy Joel, etc. It's not that much of a stretch that these big stars would belt out a line or two for free if Al is releasing a song promoting not downloading music.

Post by **Bruce the Duck** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:58 pm

Yankovic Farley @ Jul 21 2006, 02:25 PM wrote: If it is the truth, think of all the artists Al is on a friendly basis with from interacting with so many over the years. Madonna, Billy Joel, etc. It's not that much of a stretch that these big stars would belt out a line or two for free if Al is releasing a song promoting not downloading music.

Even though Al has parodied those artists in the past, I really doubt that he could just call up Madonna and she would automatically just agree to sing on his album. Very unlikely.

However, if he did get some celebs to sing on the album, I think they MIGHT include (and this is all just pure speculation):

Drew Carey, Florence Henderson, Emo Phillips, Alice Cooper, Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa, Ben Folds, Matt Stone, Trey Parker, Judy Tenuta (definitely), Pat Boone, and maybe a few others that I'm not thinking of. If anything, it would be people that Al knows pretty well, not just celebrities that have been parodied before.

mrmeadows · Post by **mrmeadows** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 11:20 pm

Bruce the Duck @ Jul 21 2006, 12:58 PM wrote: However, if he did get some celebs to sing on the album, I think they MIGHT include (and this is all just pure speculation):

Drew Carey, Florence Henderson, Emo Phillips, Alice Cooper, Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa, Ben Folds, Matt Stone, Trey Parker, Judy Tenuta (definitely), Pat Boone, and maybe a few others that I'm not thinking of. If anything, it would be people that Al knows pretty well, not just celebrities that have been parodied before.

I agree somewhat. I doubt Al could get heavy-hitters like Madonna or Billy Joel to do a throwaway line or two for a song parody on his album. I was thinking smaller scale like Bruce. However, not sure why comedians like Drew Carey and Emo Phillips would be involved, since they aren't recording artists. It seems like they would have to be musicians, like Alice Cooper, Ben Folds and the like in order for the joke to work. (Why would Drew Carey care about people downloading songs?)

[EDIT]: I just realized the flaw in my reasoning above. In my original post about this, I mentioned that even Dan Ackroyd got in on the act in WATW. So maybe Drew and Emo could play. (Of course, Ackroyd didn't have a solo part, he was just in the chorus. . .)

Meadows

Post by **Bruce the Duck** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 1:21 am

mrmeadows @ Jul 21 2006, 04:20 PM wrote: [EDIT]: I just realized the flaw in my reasoning above. In my original post about this, I mentioned that even Dan Ackroyd got in on the act in WATW. So maybe Drew and Emo could play. (Of course, Ackroyd didn't have a solo part, he was just in the chorus. . .)

Meadows

Exactly! Plus, don't forget that Drew Carrey isn't new to singing. He often performed on "The Drew Carrey Show" (once with Al!) and on "Whose Line Is It Anyway." He also did a duet with Frankie Yankovic called "Too Fat Polka," which was released on the "Besta Polka" album at Sam Goody.

Emo also sang "Downtown Downer's Grove" on his album, "E=MO2."

Another one I just thought of that would be good would be Gilbert Godfreid. He appeared on TWAS once, he has experience singing (in the "Aladdin" sequels), and he has a very distinct voice which would sound awesome in the song.

To throw out another possibility, though, (and I know this was brought up many many months ago) it's possible that Al could impersonate several different celebrity voices in one song. He's done impersonations in other songs ("Bob," "Mr. Popeil," "Isle Thing"), and I think he could pull off enough different celeb voices to make the song work. However, don't bet on seeing that in concert!