I’ll Bet You’ve Never Seen a Skirt Steak Worn This Way (original) (raw)

You’ve probably heard by now about the ongoing drama involving “Weird Al” Yankovic and Lady Gaga. Al asked permission to do a parody of “Born This Way,” and was told that he’d have to record the song before Germanotta would say yea or nay. He did, and she turned him down, so he put it online. After Al went public about it, Gaga claimed that she’d never heard it before, and was fine with it. She blames her manager, but I have to suspect the negative publicity was also a factor. It could have all just been a publicity stunt anyway, as I suspect it was with Coolio. I guess we’ll never know the whole story, but I’m glad it worked out, since I don’t think Gaga is in any position to be refusing to associate with silliness.

Besides, she’s part of the generation that grew up with Al. He had three albums out by the time she was born. Man, that makes me feel old.

Really, I guess I can be somewhat defensive of Gaga on one level, in that I don’t think being an attention whore is a bad thing. Hey, I went through a phase where I wore weird outfits to try to get attention. Granted, what I got was mostly negative attention, but sometimes that’s better than feeling ignored. I think some people who make spectacles of themselves do so because they feel they can’t connect to other people in normal ways. That might not be the case with Gaga, who seems to always have business in mind when pulling her stunts, but it probably is with some performers. It’s amazing how many musicians and comedians, especially, have a history of depression. That doesn’t mean I don’t have some beefs (made into a dress, perhaps?) with Ms. Germanotta, like her use of the word “retarded” in response to comparisons of “Born This Way” to Madonna’s “Express Yourself.” Come on, using “retarded” to mean “stupid” is so gay! Seriously, though, she’s gone on to say it was “an honest mistake”, which makes me wonder why she didn’t correct herself immediately afterward instead of some time later. Besides, Gaga can imitate Madonna as much as she wants, but why not own up to it when called on the point?

Being an Italian pop singer with bleach-blonde hair is taking off from Madonna anyway, isn’t it? I guess Gwen Stefani did the same thing, but I think she did more to establish her own identity. On the other hand, I never much cared for Gwen’s music, and I like a fair amount of Gaga’s. Go figure.