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"Yoda" is a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic from his third album, Dare to Be Stupid (1985). It is a parody of the song "Lola" by the Kinks.Inspired by the events of the movie The Empire Strikes Back, the song is told from the point of view of Jedi-in-training Luke Skywalker and concerns his dealings with Master Yoda on the planet Dagobah.
The first parody recorded for the album was "Yoda". "Yoda" was originally written by Yankovic during the initial run of the 1980 American film The Empire Strikes Back. [4] After the success of the movie, Yankovic toyed with the idea of writing a song based on the break-out character, but was unable to find a suitable song to use as the base. [8]
" The song itself is a response to and parody of "Download This Song" by MC Lars. It is also a spoof of the ending song during the credits on Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star with all the former child stars. [3] "Don't Wear Those Shoes" Polka Party! (1986) Original, although the intro is in the style of The Kinks' "Father Christmas". [1]
The music featured on the album spans a decade, with the earliest songs being recorded in 1985, and the most recent song being recorded in 1994. [1] Yankovic's third album, Dare to Be Stupid has two songs featured: "This is the Life" and "Yoda". [1] [2] Christmas at Ground Zero first appeared on the 1986 release Polka Party!.
Yankovic was inspired to write the song after he heard The Kinks' song "Lola" while driving in his car one day, noting, "I was driving a rent-a-car through Florida when the song 'Lola' came on the radio, and it got me thinking about how much fun I had doing 'Yoda' [a song from 1985's Dare to Be Stupid] where I took a then-current topic and combined it with a classic rock tune."
The song's title, not mentioned in the lyrics, derives from a tagline that appeared in teaser trailers and the film poster [1] for The Phantom Menace: "Every saga has a beginning". "The Saga Begins" was released as a single from the 1999 album Running with Scissors , and later appearing on the compilation album The Saga Begins .
The album had four alternate covers, each sold separately, that featured Anakin and Padme, Jango Fett, Yoda, and the theatrical poster art by Drew Struzan. For a limited time, a WAL-MART retail exclusive version of the CD had bonus enhanced multimedia CD-ROM content when inserted into a computer featuring a link to an exclusive PC screensaver.
In 1996 alone, the album sold 1,317,000 copies in the United States, setting a record for the most copies a comedy album sold in a year during the Nielsen SoundScan era. [40] On May 15, 1996, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified Bad Hair Day gold, and then on June 11 of the same year, it certified the record platinum. [ 41 ]