Albuquerque (song)
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| "Albuquerque" | ||
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| Song by "Weird Al" Yankovic | ||
| from the album Running With Scissors | ||
| Released | June 29, 1999 | |
| Recorded | October 15, 1998 | |
| Genre | Comedy | |
| Length | 11:23 | |
| Label | Volcano | |
| Writer(s) | "Weird Al" Yankovic | |
| Producer(s) | "Weird Al" Yankovic | |
| Running With Scissors track listing | ||
| Grapefruit Diet (11) |
"Albuquerque" (12) |
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"Albuquerque" is the last song (track 12) of "Weird Al" Yankovic's Running With Scissors album. It is not only the longest song in the album, clocking in at 11 minutes and 25 seconds, but also the longest song Yankovic has ever released on any of his official studio albums.
With the exception of the choruses and occasional bridges, the track is mostly a spoken word narration about Yankovic's made-up life in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after winning a first-class one-way airplane ticket to the city. Though not a direct parody, the entire song mimics "Dick's Automotive" by The Rugburns so closely, it almost can be considered a direct parody. In fact, in the summer of 2006, a heated debate about this topic appeared on the World of "Weird Al" Yankovic forums, leading Al to announce that future CDs (starting with Straight Outta Lynwood) will credit the targets of each style parody, and the person who started the debate to issue a public apology to Al for causing such an event to occur.
There is also an obvious joke involving the song in the album jacket to Running With Scissors. In the beginning, it looks like a standard title header for any of the other songs on the album and the beginning of the song's lyrics are shown. However, the lyrics are cut off early, followed by this seemingly sarcastic message:
"You know what? The rest of these lyrics aren't gonna fit here. There's just no room left. What a drag, huh? I guess we didn't plan this out very well...probably should have used a smaller font or a bigger piece of paper or something. Sorry. We all just feel horrible about this. Well, I guess you'll just have to listen really carefully and try to figure out the words for yourself. Good luck."
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[edit] Summary
The narrator, as a child, lives happily in a box under a flight of stairs in the corner of the basement in the house half a block from Jerry's Bait Shop, but is forced by his mother to eat large quantities of sauerkraut for breakfast, which frustrates him. When he asks why he must eat so much sauerkraut, she stares at him for a moment and shouts that "IT'S GOOD FOR YOU!!!", and then ties him to the wall, sticks a funnel in his mouth, and force-feeds him sauerkraut until he's 26 1/2 years old. He then swears to himself that he would escape and travel to "a magical, far away place" with particularly fluffy towels and warm-root-beer scented air. The next day, he participates in the contest of a local radio station to guess the number of molecules in Leonard Nimoy's butt. He is off by three, but still wins the grand prize: a first class, one way ticket to Albuquerque. The narrator claims that the airplane trip is "really great", but in fact seems unpleasant because of many reasons, including two large Albanian women with massive BO and a puking youngster, a lack of salted peanuts and diet Dr Pepper, and that the in-flight movie is Bio-Dome with Pauly Shore. Then the engines burn out and the plane crashes and everyone dies, but the narrator is the only sole survivor because he "had (his) tray table up and (his) seat back in the full upright position" -- which might be a reference to Douglas Adams' work, where the sole survivor of a spaceship crash (usually Arthur Dent) is the single passenger who read the safety instructions.
Crash landing in the desert, he slowly crawls to Albuquerque in three days hauling along all his baggage, including his "lucky lucky autographed glow-in-the-dark snorkel". Finally he arrives in the city and checks into the Albuquerque Holiday Inn, where the towels are very fluffy indeed and the ashtrays are clean enough to eat soup out of. As he is enjoying the comfort of his hotel room, there is a knock on the door. As he opens the door, a fat hermaphrodite with a Flock of Seagulls haircut and only one nostril (homage to The Fugitive) barges in and, after a fierce struggle, makes off with the snorkel. The narrator vows to bring him to justice, but decides to go buy some donuts first.
The donut shop turns out to be entirely out of donuts and related pastries. The narrator asks the donut salesman for several types of donuts, but each time is met with the same response, "No, we're out of doughnuts!" The narrator then asks the salesman what is still in stock. As it turns out, the only item still available is a box of one dozen, starving, crazed weasels, which the narrator purchases. Opening the box, the narrator is attacked by the weasels and, flailing around wildly on the streetside, meets the girl of his dreams - Zelda. They immediately become inseparable and quickly get married and have two children, Nathaniel and Superfly (although some fans insist that it's Buzz Saw and Jet Blade). However, on one fatefull night, Zelda asks him to join the Columbia Record Club and he considers that too large a commitment, freaks out, and divorces her.
About a week later, the narrator then achieves his lifelong dream of getting a job at the Sizzler, becoming employee of the month after putting out a grease fire with his face, which inspires jealousy and "a lot of attitude" from his co-workers. When he sees a friend trying to move a sofa, he asks if he should help, but the friend sarcastically responds that he wants him to cut off his arms and legs with a chainsaw, which he does, And when his friend is astonished that he did not understand he was joking, The narrator gets angry stating that 'I'm not a mindreader for crying out loud'. This reminds him of a time when a man came up to him on the street saying that "he hasn't had a bite in three days", and so the narrator bites him in the jugular vein. The victim does not appreciate the irony of the situation and doesn't get the joke.
The narrator then loses track of the story and starts wondering what the point was that he was trying to make, finally coming to the conclusion that it was - as he puts it - "I...HATE...SAUERKRAUT!!!" At the very end of the song, the narrator reminds the listener to remember that no matter how futile and senseless the universe may seem, "there's still a little place called Albuquerque".
[edit] Trivia
- At the end of the song (around 11:20, after the music ends), faint laughter can be heard in the background. As "Weird Al" says, "That’s Jim West laughing - I thought it would be a good way to end the album. He’s cracking up because of the stupid chord he played at the end of the song."
- In the song, the narrator's mom feeds him sauerkraut until he's 26 1/2 years old. This is a reference to Yankovic's common hiding of the number 27 in many of his songs and videos, often thought by fans to be in teasing jest. However, the song clocks at 11:25 and adding the running time up equals the number 27 (1 + 1 + 25 = 27).
- The doughnut shop scene is an obvious homage to Monty Python's Cheese Shop Sketch.
- In lieu of his normal DVD review of the now-cancelled Internet radio talk show 2 Sense, Spazfox narrates this song word for word in a series of segments.[citation needed]
- Alluded to in the 2004 movie National Treasure
- Shaw: Prison.
- Riley Poole: Albuquerque. See, I can do it too. Snorkel.
- On Albino Blacksheep, there is a flash movie called Albuquerque: The Movie, which is an unofficial video for the song. [1]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| “Weird Al” Yankovic |
|---|
| Band members |
| "Weird Al" Yankovic • Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz • Steve Jay • Jim West • Rubén Valtierra |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: "Weird Al" Yankovic (1983) • "Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D (1984) • Dare To Be Stupid (1985) • Polka Party! (1986) • Even Worse (1988) • UHF (1989) • Off The Deep End (1992) • Alapalooza (1993) • Bad Hair Day (1996) • Running With Scissors (1999) • Poodle Hat (2003) • Straight Outta Lynwood (2006) |
| List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic • List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic • Complete discography |
| Filmography |
| Music videos • "Al TV" • The Compleat Al • UHF • "The Weird Al Show" • "Weird Al" Yankovic Live! |
| Related articles |
| Singles • Songs • Dr. Demento • Music videos • Parody musicians • Comedy musicians |
