I've found some songs on the Internet that have your name attached to them, but they just don't seem like the kind of songs you'd write.  What's the deal here??

Unfortunately, there are many "funny" songs floating around the Internet being attributed to me which are, in fact, NOT by me.  "Barney's On Fire," "I Ran Over The Taco Bell Dog," "Weenie In A Bottle," "I'm A Wigga," "The Beer Song," "The Devil Went Down To Jamaica," "Elmo's Got A Gun," "Which Backstreet Boy Is Gay," "What If God Smoked Cannabis" (the list goes on and on)... these are NOT my songs.  All of my material is fairly family-friendly, so if you hear one of "my" songs and the lyrics are vulgar or obscene... well, that's an excellent clue that it's not really one of my songs.  Hope I've cleared that up.  Oh, while you're at it... stop stealing my stuff off the Internet, you hooligan!

How did you get started in the music business?

I started sending in cassette tapes of my material to the Dr. Demento radio show when I was in my early teens.  The Good Doctor gave me airplay when any right-thinking disc jockey wouldn't have dreamed of it, and by the time I graduated from college, I had a modest cult following and a couple of nationally-released singles ("My Bologna" and "Another One Rides The Bus").  I signed with Scotti Bros. Records in 1982 and did my first 9 studio albums with them (currently I'm with Way Moby/Volcano/Zomba/Sony BMG).

Do you get permission to do those parodies?

Yes, I do get permission from the original songwriters.  While the law supports my ability to parody without permission, it's very important to me to try to maintain the relationships I've built with artists and writers over the years.  Thankfully, most artists seem genuinely flattered to get the "Weird Al treatment."  Some groups (including Nirvana) have publicly stated that they didn't realize that they had really "made it" until they heard my parody!

When are you going to do some original songs?

Umm... Half of the songs on my albums are original songs.  Many of them are done in the style of another artist, or in a specific genre, but they are original compositions. Any other questions?

Are you interested in my incredibly lame idea for a song parody?

No.