"Polkas on 45" | |
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Song by "Weird Al" Yankovic from the album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D | |
Released | February 28, 1984 |
Format |
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Recorded | December 13, 1983 |
Genre | |
Length | 4:23 |
Label | Scotti Brothers |
"Hooked on Polkas" | ||||
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Single by "Weird Al" Yankovic | ||||
from the album Dare to Be Stupid | ||||
Released | June 18, 1985 (Japan only) | |||
Format |
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Recorded | March 25, 1985 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:51 | |||
Label | Scotti Brothers | |||
"Weird Al" Yankovic singles chronology | ||||
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"Polka Party!" | |
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Song by "Weird Al" Yankovic from the album Polka Party! | |
Released | October 21, 1986 |
Format |
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Recorded | August 29, 1986 |
Genre | |
Length | 3:15 |
Label | Scotti Brothers |
"The Hot Rocks Polka" | |
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Song by "Weird Al" Yankovic from the album UHF | |
Released | July 18, 1989 |
Format |
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Recorded | May 24, 1989 |
Genre | |
Length | 4:50 |
Label | Scotti Brothers |
Writer(s) |
"Polka Your Eyes Out" | |
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Song by "Weird Al" Yankovic from the album Off the Deep End | |
Released | April 1992 |
Format |
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Recorded | January 27, 1992 |
Genre | |
Length | 3:50 |
Label | Scotti Brothers |
"Bohemian Polka" | |
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Song by "Weird Al" Yankovic from the album Alapalooza | |
Released | October 5, 1993 |
Format |
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Recorded | July 17, 1993 |
Genre | |
Length | 3:39 |
Label | Scotti Brothers |
Writer(s) |
"The Alternative Polka" | |
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Song by "Weird Al" Yankovic from the album Bad Hair Day | |
Released | March 12, 1996 |
Format |
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Recorded | January 3, 1996 |
Genre | |
Length | 4:50 |
Label | Scotti Brothers |
"Polka Power!" | ||||
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Single by "Weird Al" Yankovic | ||||
from the album Running with Scissors | ||||
Released | September 26, 1999 (Germany only) | |||
Format |
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Recorded | April 20, 1999 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:21 | |||
Label | ||||
"Weird Al" Yankovic singles chronology | ||||
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"Angry White Boy Polka" | |
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Song by "Weird Al" Yankovic from the album Poodle Hat | |
Released | May 20, 2003 |
Format |
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Recorded | March 21, 2003 |
Genre | |
Length | 5:04 |
Label | Volcano |
"Polkarama!" | |
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Song by "Weird Al" Yankovic from the album Straight Outta Lynwood | |
Released | September 24, 2006 |
Format |
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Recorded | April 12, 2006 |
Genre | |
Length | 4:17 |
Label | Volcano |
Polka-style medleys of cover songs are a distinguishing part of American musician, satirist, parodist, and songwriter "Weird Al" Yankovic's catalog. They have appeared on twelve of his fourteen albums; his self-titled debut album and Even Worse do not contain medleys.
The medleys are composed of various popular songs, each one reinterpreted as a polka (generally an instrumentation of accordion, banjo, tuba, clarinet, and muted brass interspersed with sound effects) with the choruses or memorable lines of various songs juxtaposed for humorous effect. Yankovic has been known to say that converting these songs to polka was "...the way God intended." Yankovic said that the medleys were something he did "even before I had a record deal" in live performances, and that many of the songs are included due to not receiving a full parody version - "if there’s a song that I think is really ripe for parody but I just can’t think of a clever enough idea, sometimes it’ll end up in the polka medley." Regarding their popularity, Yankovic has said, "At this point, it's sort of mandatory for me to do a polka medley. Fans would be rioting in the streets, I think, if I didn't do a polka medley." Yankovic has always asked permission from every artist whose songs compose a medley due to royalties issues. He acknowledged some influence of Spike Jones in the medleys, such as the sound effects.