“It’s Still Billy Joel to Me” by Weird Al Yankovich

Of all the songs Weird Al has recorded, this seems to be the one he’s most openly ashamed of (it’s worth noting that he never wound up putting it on an album). Granted, it’s a mean-spirited attack on the original artist, something Yankovich is normally above doing, but so is “Achy Breaky Song”, and while Al seems somewhat embarrassed about that one too, his fans had a much more positive reaction to it.

Maybe I’m biased because I am an avowed Billy Joel fan and absolutely despise Billy Ray Cyrus’ music, but I am a fan of about two-thirds of the other artists Yankovich insults in “Achy Breaky Song” (and I’m certainly no great defender of “It’s Still Rock’n’Roll to Me” as an individual song).

The difference is that “Achy Breaky Song”, with its hyperbolic language and comedic exaggerations, actually came off as a joke. “It’s Still Billy Joel to Me”, on the other hand, doesn’t really tell any jokes…it’s just a string of fairly mundane cheap insults, and mostly just comes across as a jealous rant about Billy Joel’s level of commercial success and security (Weird Al’s own career hadn’t really started to take off at this point, and his envy and pettiness here don’t exactly reflect well on him).

Verdict: Bad.

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