The Saga Begins
| "The Saga Begins" | ||||
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| Single by "Weird Al" Yankovic | ||||
| from the album Running with Scissors | ||||
| Released | June 24, 1999 | |||
| Format | digital download, CD | |||
| Recorded | April 20, 1999 | |||
| Genre | Comedy rock, folk rock | |||
| Length | 5:27 | |||
| Label | Volcano | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Don McLean, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Bruce "DA FRO" Scruggs | |||
| Producer(s) | "Weird Al" Yankovic | |||
| "Weird Al" Yankovic singles chronology | ||||
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"The Saga Begins" is a parody song by "Weird Al" Yankovic of "American Pie" by Don McLean, with lyrics that humorously summarize the plot of the film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace through the point of view of Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the protagonists of the film, as well as Anakin's master. The song's title, not mentioned anywhere in the lyrics, derives from a tagline that appeared in teaser trailers and the film poster for The Phantom Menace: "Every saga has a beginning". "The Saga Begins" was released as a single from the 1999 album Running with Scissors, and later appearing on the compilation album titled The Saga Begins.
Set to the tune of "American Pie," "The Saga Begins" recounts the plot of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, from Obi-Wan Kenobi's point of view. Yankovic gathered most of the information he needed to write the song from Internet spoilers. Although Lucasfilm declined a request for an advance screening, Yankovic eventually attended a costly pre-screening for charity. He had done such an accurate job with the story line that after the pre-screening, he ended up making only very minor alterations.
McLean approved of the song and, according to Yankovic, also has said that his children played it so much that "he'd start thinking about Jedis and Star Wars, and it would mess him up" in concert. According to Yankovic's official website, Lucasfilms' official response to the song was, "You should've seen the smile on (George Lucas') face." This is the second Star Wars song Weird Al has created, with the first being 1985's "Yoda", a parody of "Lola" by The Kinks.
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Wikipedia