‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s Parody of The Beatles’ ‘Taxman’ Stinks
The Beatles‘ “Taxman” inspired “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Pac-Man.” Despite the initial popularity of “Pac-Man,” it wasn’t officially released for many years. Sadly, it’s just not very good.
‘Weird Al’ Yankovic sampled arcade sounds to parody The Beatles’ ‘Taxman’
During a 2017 interview with Nerdist, Yankovic revealed how “Pac-Man” came together. “I had a fancy piece of equipment thing called the TEAC Cassette Portastudio,” he recalled. “It was literally recorded on a cassette tape. It was four tracks, so as thin as cassette tapes are, they divided the tape into like four different tracks.
“And I would record, maybe, double speed, he added. “I don’t remember exactly, but it was a multi-track studio. Well, ‘studio’ is overstating a bit. It’s like a little piece of gear with a mixing board on it, but it would literally record on a cassette tape, and I recorded ‘Pac-Man’ in a friend’s garage. And I then brought in some musicians to play on it and recorded some Pac-Man sounds from an actual Pac-Man arcade game.” Yankovic said this was an early example of sampling.
How ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic was eventually able to release his spoof of The Beatles’ ‘Taxman’
Yankovic sent his song to The Dr. Demento Show, a radio program that played novelty records. “I put it together and sent it to Dr. Demento, and he played it for a few weeks,” he remembered. “It got some good fan reaction, and very shortly, after a few plays, he got a cease and desist letter from some attorneys representing The Beatles.” For many years, the song was unofficially available online.
Notably, George Harrison is the sole credited writer of “Taxman.” Eventually, Yankovic became friends with George’s only son, Dhani Harrison. He received permission from Dhani and his mother, Olivia, to officially release “Pac-Man” in 2017. The track appeared on Yankovic’s album Medium Rarities. It’s nice that Yankovic was able to put out the song after so many decades.
The original song is a lot funnier and more timeless than ‘Pac-Man’
Despite this, “Pac-Man” is not a good song. If there’s something funny about “Pac-Man,” Yankovic doesn’t find it. “Taxman” is a lot funnier than “Pac-Man”, with its lines about the government taxing the street, feet, and dead people. The greedy lyrics of “Taxman” are timeless while “Pac-Man” is about a cultural phenomenon that hasn’t been relevant in a while, even as Mario is getting his own movie.
If anything, the appeal of “Pac-Man” is simply nostalgia. It’s the sound of an artist who ruled the ’80s (at least on MTV) singing about a very ’80s trend. Of course, Yankovic was a lot funnier taking on other ’80s icons like Michael Jackson, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Madonna. Even his parody of George’s “Got My Mind Set on You” is more incisive than “Pac-Man.” That parody is called “(This Song’s Just) Six Words Long,” and it pokes fun at the repetitive lyrics of George’s song.
“Pac-Man” isn’t very good but it shows how much The Beatles inspired other musicians.
