Unveiling the Genius of "Weird Al" Yankovic's Running with Scissors: The Ultimate Deep Dive!

"Running with Scissors" is the tenth studio album by the American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on June 29, 1999. It stands as Yankovic's first album for Volcano Records after the label's acquisition of Scotti Brothers and the fourth studio album self-produced by Yankovic. The album is built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock music of the late 1990s, largely targeting alternative rock and hip-hop.

Album Overview

The album showcases Yankovic's signature style, blending parodies of popular songs with original compositions that are themselves style parodies of various artists. "Running with Scissors" presents a snapshot of the late 1990s music scene through Yankovic's comedic lens.

Key Tracks and Parodies

"Running with Scissors" features five parodies of hit songs from the time. These include:

"The Saga Begins": A parody of Don McLean's "American Pie" that recounts the plot of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
"Pretty Fly for a Rabbi": A parody of The Offspring's "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" about a hip rabbi.
"Jerry Springer": A parody of Barenaked Ladies' "One Week" that focuses on the chaotic content of The Jerry Springer Show.
"It's All About the Pentiums": A parody of Puff Daddy's "It's All About the Benjamins" that humorously explores the world of computer technology.
"Grapefruit Diet": A parody of Cherry Poppin' Daddies' "Zoot Suit Riot" that tackles the subject of weight loss and fad diets.

"The Saga Begins": A Star Wars Parody

"The Saga Begins" became one of Yankovic's best-known singles. Yankovic felt that the album should have a song centered on the release of The Phantom Menace. He initially considered writing his parody of "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" about the film and calling it "Pretty Fly for a Jedi", but he quickly dismissed this idea, opting instead to parody a classic song to commemorate the new movie.

Yankovic began writing the lyrics in December 1998, months before the film's release, gleaning information about the movie's plot entirely from Internet spoilers. The song was completed two months before The Phantom Menace was released to theaters.

"Pretty Fly for a Rabbi": A Cultural Commentary

The first parody recorded for the album was "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi", a parody of the Offspring's 1998 single "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)", about a hip rabbi." In order to accurately write the song, Yankovic consulted several of his Jewish friends as well as several English-to-Yiddish dictionaries. The song's opening line - "Veren zol fun dir a blintsa" - is a Yiddish curse that roughly means "May you turn into a blintz." Originally, Yankovic had wanted voice actress Mary Kay Bergman to sing the song as her South Park character Sheila Broflovski. However, due to legal restrictions, she was only able to say a few lines in the finished product. Yankovic then approached actress Fran Drescher to lend her voice to the song, but this was also unsuccessful.

"Jerry Springer": A Television Parody

The second parody recorded for the album was "Jerry Springer", a parody of Barenaked Ladies 1998 hit "One Week". The song is about The Jerry Springer Show, hosted by the eponymous Jerry Springer. In preparation for the song, Yankovic watched "a couple shows" until he understood the "basic formula" for how the episodes unfolded. Originally, there were plans to shoot a video, and Springer was asked if he wanted to be in it. Springer was initially interested, but after hearing the song, he declined because he believed it was too "negative" towards his show.

"It's All About the Pentiums": A Tech-Savvy Spoof

The third parody recorded for the album was "It's All About the Pentiums", a parody of the rock remix of the track "It's All About the Benjamins" by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs. Yankovic spoke to Combs personally on the phone to make sure that the parody would not emulate the 1996 Coolio incident. Due to time constraints, Yankovic was forced to write the song a few days before the entire album was slated to be mastered, as Yankovic had still been waiting for Combs' approval. By the time Combs responded to him, Yankovic was recording the last session for the album. To give him time to write the lyrics, Yankovic's band recorded the music first.

"Grapefruit Diet": A Weighty Matter

"Grapefruit Diet" finds Al returning to the fertile field of fat jokes for the first time since his breakthrough Michael Jackson parody. The irresistible cheesiness is half of what makes “Grapefruit Diet” a guilty pleasure from an artist who usually offers pleasure sans guilt. The other half is the song’s subject matter. “Grapefruit Diet” (a title screams both “1999”) finds Al dipping deep into a bottomless well of cornball American humor. As with “Taco Grande”, snatches of “Grapefruit Diet” keep ricocheting through my weird, cobweb-riddled brain at inopportune times, oddly sticky couplets like, “Who’s that waddling down the street/It’s just me cause I love to eat/Fudge and twinkles and deviled ham/Who’s real flabby? But where “Fat” is defiant, “Grapefruit Diet” is the anthem of someone trying to become less fat through the titular fad diet. What could be more 1990s than a grapefruit diet-themed Cherry Poppin’ Daddies parody? Al spoofed the one-hit wonders, and piggy-backed joyously on the infectious idiocy of their tacky little anthems.

Original Tracks and Style Parodies

The other half of "Running with Scissors" is original material, featuring many "style parodies", or musical imitations of existing artists. These tracks showcase Yankovic's ability to capture the essence of different genres and artists while injecting his own brand of humor.

"The Weird Al Show Theme": The theme song to Yankovic's short-lived television series.
"Germs": A style parody of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails that tells of the narrator's germophobia.
"Your Horoscope for Today": A style parody of third wave ska, which features Reel Big Fish members Tavis Werts on trumpet and Dan Regan on trombone, and has lyrics about ridiculous horoscopes.
"Albuquerque": An eleven-minute "hard-driving rock narrative", is a style parody of the Rugburns, particularly the song "Dick's Automotive", and tells the fictional life of Yankovic and his various adventures in the town of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
"My Baby's in Love with Eddie Vedder": A style parody of zydeco about a man's frustration that his girlfriend is obsessed with Eddie Vedder, the lead singer for the grunge band Pearl Jam.
"Truck Drivin' Song": A detailed account of a truck driver working while simultaneously worrying about their clothing and makeup, is a style parody of truck-driving country.

"Albuquerque": An Epic Fan Favorite

"Albuquerque", an eleven-minute "hard-driving rock narrative," is a style parody of the Rugburns, particularly the song "Dick's Automotive", and tells the fictional life of Yankovic and his various adventures in the town of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Yankovic originally wrote the song to "annoy people for 12 minutes". He felt that it would be an "odyssey" for fans to successfully sit through it, and so it was placed at the album's end. Instead, to Yankovic's surprise, the song has become a fan favorite.

Production and Recording

In June 1997, Yankovic entered the studio to begin the first of the Running with Scissors sessions, which Yankovic produced himself. Recording with Yankovic were Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz on drums, Steve Jay on bass, and Jim West on guitar. The album was recorded in six sessions. The first session started on June 29, 1997, in which Yankovic recorded the theme song to his television show, The Weird Al Show. The second session, which occurred on October 7, 1998, produced the original song "Germs", and eight days later, on October 15, Yankovic started the third session and recorded three more originals, "Albuquerque", "My Baby's in Love with Eddie Vedder", and "Truck Drivin' Song". The next day, the fourth session resulted in the song "Your Horoscope for Today". On April 19 of the following year, Yankovic recorded four parodies during the fifth session, "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi", "Jerry Springer", "It's All About the Pentiums", and "Grapefruit Diet".

Album Artwork and Packaging

For nearly 20 years, Yankovic had been known for his hairdo, glasses, and moustache. However, in early 1998, Yankovic grew out his hair, shaved his moustache and underwent LASIK eye surgery to correct his vision, thus making glasses no longer necessary. As such, Running with Scissors was his first album to feature his new look. On the cover, he is shown running on the track at Santa Monica City College, holding a pair of scissors in each hand-a literal depiction of the album's title. The CD booklet contains the complete lyrics to all but one of the album's songs; due to the length of the closing song "Albuquerque", not all of its lyrics fit on the final page of the booklet. Running with Scissors is also the first of "Weird Al" Yankovic's albums to feature multimedia content.

Touring with Scissors

Following the release of Running with Scissors, Yankovic undertook a two-year-long tour called "Touring with Scissors". Starting on July 19, 1999, Yankovic played over 200 shows across the United States and Canada. A live video recording of one of the shows, called "Weird Al Yankovic Live!"

Reception and Commercial Performance

Running with Scissors was met with mostly positive reviews from critics. J.D. Considine of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a "B" rating and felt that, while many comedians are unable to translate jokes onto CD, "Yankovic's jokes are eminently listenable." He concluded that "compared with most comedy recordings these days, Running with Scissors is a cut above." Melissa Ruggieri of the Richmond Times-Dispatch graded the album a "B+", writing, "Now on his 10th album, the weird and wacky Al tackles gems such as Don McLean's 'American Pie', The Offspring's 'Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)' and Barenaked Ladies' 'One Week'. Not all reviews were positive.

The album peaked at number 16 on the Billboard 200. "The Saga Begins" went on to become one of Yankovic's best-known singles, although it never charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Running with Scissors was Yankovic's seventh Gold record in the United States, and went on to be certified Platinum for sales of over one million copies in the US.

Lawsuit over Royalties

In late 2013, Yankovic sued his label, Volcano, and its parent company Sony for unpaid publishing royalties from several of his albums and singles, including Running with Scissors. Yankovic claimed that-despite the album's success-he never earned royalties from the record.

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