Apparently, he politely asked if he was able to use her song to create a parody and she requested that he write and record the whole thing before she could approve of it. He did so, spending lots of time on what he believed would be his latest masterpiece, and she didn't approve it!
So, Weird Al is now forced to come up with a new single. Bummer because his parodies of hit songs are always in good taste, harmless and fun. AND he was going to donate all of the proceeds the song would have made to the Human Rights Campaign. I can't imagine why Lady Gaga would reject his proposal. Personally, I would think it an honor to have Weird Al parody any of my music.
HOWEVER, asking the artists for their permission is simply a personal policy he abides by. He is legally allowed to create parodies of songs without getting in trouble for it...So he has released his song via YouTube, but he won't be using it on his album or creating a music video for it.
SO HERE IT IS! "Perform This Way" by Weird Al, rejected by Lady Gaga.
Read the whole story from Weird Al himself on his blog HERE.
***UPDATE: Straight from Weird Al: Gaga never heard the song because her manager never passed it along to her. He responded with a 'no' to Weird Al without informing Gaga AT ALL. GOOD NEWS FOR AL! He gets to put the song on his album and all the proceeds will go to the HRC. Congrats, Al!
Dick move on the managers part. Maybe he should start looking for a new gig.
