Prince not-so-charming! In his 35-year career, Weird Al Yankovic has parodied everyone from Michael Jackson to Lorde to Madonna, but one star who was less than amenable to the funnyman’s requests to take on his music was the artist formerly known as, and then once again dubbed, Prince.
“The only person who’s consistently said no has been Prince,” Weird Al, 54, said in an interview with Access Hollywood on Wednesday, July 23. “I haven’t approached him in 20 years.”
“He just wasn’t into the parody,” he explained, adding that he pitched the purple one various songs including spins on “Kiss” and “1999.”
While Prince didn’t seem to share a concrete reason to dismiss Weird Al’s requests, Paul McCartney turned the performer down on specific grounds. Yankovic once asked to reinvent McCartney’s 1970s single “Live And Let Die” as “Chicken Pot Pie.”
“Paul McCartney is a really cool guy and he’s got a great sense of humor,” Al explained. “It was just that one idea he didn’t like because he’s vegetarian.”
While the “Word Crimes” spoofster didn’t get his chance to croon about “Chicken Pot Pie,” he did find a friend in another major star: Michael Jackson. Weird Al dished to Access Hollywood about his relationship to the late superstar, who once asked him to come along on an international tour, and would pass him notes when the two were recording next to one another in adjacent studios.
Watch Al chat about MJ in the video above!
