'Weird Al Is A Force Not To Be Taken For Granted': Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer

Colourful, enigmatic and frankly divine performer Amanda Palmer has delivered a lengthy, heartfelt reflection on her relationship — and recently unveiled collaboration — with internet winner of the week, "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Palmer, known well for her role as one half of dark cabaret trailblazers The Dresden Dolls, made the post on her personal blog only hours after Yankovic released the latest video in his #8videos8days campaign for new LP Mandatory Fun, the Pixies-inspired parody, First World Problems — for which Palmer provided guest vocals (see below).

Titling her missive I did back-ups on the new Weird Al record! now I can die., Palmer explained that the chance to work with Yankovic on his fourteenth studio LP was "like an 8.9" on a bucket-list scale from one to ten — "the fact that the song is a spoof of the PIXIES creeps it up towards a 9.4," she wrote.

"weird al and the pixies are the soundtrack of my youth – though al covered more of 4th grade through 9th and then the pixies took over."

The post then takes a shift for the slightly philosophical as Palmer canvasses abstract ideas such as Weird Al's undeniable influence on her own work.

"Funny enough, it was jason webley (connector of all things) that made me realize how much of an influence [Yankovic had] had on me, my songwriting, my way of thinking about What’s Allowed in music," she posted. "In the early days of touring together, jason and i were comparing favorite records and artists and where we had venn diagram overlap and where not. our biggest overlaps: tom waits, robyn hitchcock, elliott smith and…wait for it…weird al.

"It was then, regarding my friend/soulmate, that i realized: weird al is a force not to be taken for granted."

Palmer further goes into considerable detail about the circumstances surrounding her contribution to Mandatory Fun, which Yankovic contacted her about being a part of just over a year ago, she says.

"After we first met, al would send me his fresh releases, and CHRISTMAS CARDS. that made me glow," she enthused. "After that, jason and i invited al to sing on the 'evelyn evelyn' record (on the 'i just want my space' song)…and he did.

"i just returned the favor, though it hardly felt like a favor, singing on 'first world problems'.

"if you love the pixies, the song will make so much more sense to you…as will my vocal part.
if you want to understand and get a pixies flavor…i suggest listening to all of 'surfer rosa' and 'doolittle', you should anyway.

"i was supposed to be bringing my best kim deal to the table," Palmer continued. "i tried. do i sound totally flat and affectless?"

Read the full post here (it's really enlightening), and take in the newest clip from "Weird Al"'s Mandatory Fun, First World Problems — featuring Amanda Palmer in the vein of Kim Deal — down below.

PLEASE NOTE: The embed for this video is currently locked by PopCrush. As there's no official upload on YouTube yet, you'll have to view it there directly until they lift the lockdown.