Weird Al takes on Craigslist with The Doors
The nerdy comedian-singer has put out a new single all about the banal things that people do on the classifieds site. We want to know what Craig thinks.
Geek humor abounds.
Parody singer "Weird Al" Yankovic poked fun at Segway riders three years ago with his rap song "White and Nerdy."
His latest single "Craigslist" skewers the people who can be found swapping wares and scoring dates on the classifieds ads site. (While there's a verse about the popular "missed connections" feature on Craigslist, there isn't otherwise mention of the current prostitution controversy that the site's been dealing with.)
The video and song are a professed homage to The Doors. Ray Manzarek, the former band's keyboardist, was enlisted to play on the track. And while the music itself will sound unmistakably familiar to Doors fans, Yankovic asserts it isn't a takeoff on a specific song,
The lyrics, by contrast, are unlike anything Jim Morrison would have dreamed up:
Got a trash can of Styrofoam peanuts, you can have em for free
You can drop by on the weekend and pick em up from me
But the trash can ain't part of the deal
Only givin' you the peanuts, get real
"Craigslist" is available for sale as a single now and will appear on an album that comes out next year.
The Doors parodying is spot-on. But the video and lyrics unfortunately aren't as funny as the over-the-top "White and Nerdy," which became a mild viral sensation on YouTube in 2006.
More importantly: I've e-mailed Craigslist founder Craig Newmark to gauge his reaction. He responded: "The thing's pretty funny!"
This post was updated at 11:48 a.m. PT with comment from Craig Newmark.