When I think of the '80s, I don't usually think of The Godfather of Soul.
Released
in 1986, "Living In America" became Brown's first Top 40 hit in a
decade, and as of this writing, his last (sure, he's dead, but come on, that
never stopped 2Pac). However, I'm wondering just how glad Brown was to
have been living in America just a couple of years later, when he was
arrested for drugs and weapons charges, then led police on a high-speed
car chase, and was ultimately sentenced to six years in prison (of which
he served three). I suppose one could say that James Brown "served for
his country."
But before all that image-burnishing, there was
Rocky IV. I'm not sure if "Living In America" was written specifically
for Rocky IV, but it might as well have been.
I remember my roommates in
college catching Rocky IV on TV and laughing
copiously; I wandered in and out of the room, and did not feel like I
was missing a cinematic treasure. I just read the plot
summary on Wikipedia. Let me get this straight: over-the-hill Apollo
Creed challenges a young and studly Soviet boxer who's pumped up on
steroids to a fight, Apollo dies in the ring, Rocky avenges Apollo's death by
training in the Russian mountains with an axe and a sled, he beats
the chemically enhanced Soviet boxer using nothing but his hard work and determination, and then he gives a big speech about the Cold War? Hmmmm. I seem to recall the first Rocky being at least somewhat plausible. I mean, why not have Luke Skywalker swoop down and blow up the Death Star while we're at it? And have hobbits and oompa-loompas help Rocky train?
Ah, but thanks to
Weird Al, whenever I hear "Living In America," I never think of Rocky Balboa saving
the free world from communism. Oh no. I always think of a man with a
very painful medical condition.
"Living With A Hernia"
became the lead-off track to Polka Party, which, according to Wikipedia,
"holds the dubious honor of being the lowest charting studio album
released by Yankovic." I'm not sure how Weird Al managed to receive
parody permission from a man with such a bad attitude, but props to the
Hardest Working Man in Showbusiness for being willing to go along with
jokes about intestines. It also probably helped that at the time, James
Brown and Weird Al shared record labels.
The song
quickly becomes a contest to see how many words Weird Al can come up
with that end in "-ation." We've got: "aggravation," "ruination,"
"location," "humiliation," "irritation," "medication." I'll bet if the
situation called for it, he could've come up with more. There's also a
highly educational section where he names several different types of
hernias, in lieu of Brown's naming several different American cities. I
mean hell, I already know the names of American cities.
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4 comments:
Never before heard or seen this one. Love the near perfect imitation of the original video. Also, gotta love that cape routine.
Never heard or seen what? "Living With A Hernia"? "Living In America"? Both? Neither?
Sorry, I haven't ever heard the Weird Al version, nor seen the video.
You should listen to it. It's hysterical
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