Why ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Recorded His Spoof of The Knack’s ‘My Sharona’ in a Bathroom
The Knack made classic rock history when the band released its debut single “My Sharona.” “Weird Al” Yankovic parodied the song with his debut single “My Bologna.” During an interview, Yankovic revealed what happened when he discussed “My Bologna” backstage with The Knack’s Doug Fieger.
‘Weird Al’ Yankovic recorded his spoof of The Knack’s ‘My Sharona’ in a bathroom
During a 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Yankovic said he was a DJ in college. He recalled getting numerous requests to play “My Sharona” in the summer of 1979. He had the “stupid” idea to make a parody of the song with lyrics about lunch meat.
In order to record “My Bologna,” Yankovic went into a college bathroom and played his accordion. He recorded “My Bologna” there because he felt the acoustics of the bathroom were perfect. He sent the track to The Dr. Demento Show, a comedy radio show that often played novelty songs. “My Bologna” became a hit on The Dr. Demento Show.
How spoofing The Knack’s ‘My Sharona’ changed ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s career
Yankovic didn’t expect anyone from The Knack to hear “My Bologna.” “Back in those days, I didn’t ever think that this was going to be released on an album some day, so contacting the original artists was the furthest thing from my mind,” Yankovic noted. “I thought, ‘They’re never gonna hear this — why even bother them?'”
Yankovic was wrong. “But it turns out The Knack did hear it, and when I snuck backstage at a Knack concert later that year and talked to Doug Fieger, I introduced myself as the guy that did ‘My Bologna,’ and he said, ‘Oh, I love that song.’ And he turned to his right to a guy who happened to be the vice president of Capitol Records at the time and said, ‘You should put this guy’s song out on Capitol Records.’ And they did!”
Yankovic was surprised Capitol Records released “My Bologna.” “As you can imagine, as a guy going for his architecture degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, that was pretty heady stuff,” he said. Yankovic previously thought his popularity on The Dr. Demento Show would be his peak.
‘My Bologna’ spoof appeared on a themed album
“My Bologna” appeared on Yankovic’s self-titled debut album. It paved the way for many of his other food-themed parodies. Since “My Bologna,” Yankovic gave us other songs about food such as “Fat,” “Eat It,” “I Love Rocky Road,” and “Lasagna.” The tracks in question were, respectively, parodies of Michael Jackson‘s “Bad,” Jackson’s “Beat It,” Joan Jett & the Blackhearts‘ “I Love Rock ‘n Roll,” and Los Lobos’ “La Bamba.” Each of these songs appeared on one of his compilations: The Food Album.
“My Bologna” is a fun tribute to The Knack and deli meat and it was a major stepping stone for Yankovic.
