Weird Al Takes on Crosby, Stills & Nash for ‘Mission Statement’ Video
Monday, July 21st marks the end of a hilarious viral era: With his new clip for “Mission Statement,” premiered on Wall Street Journal‘s Speakeasy Blog, “Weird Al” Yankovic ends his week-long run of video premieres in low-key fashion, singing about mumbo-jumbo corporate jargon in a harmonic style reminiscent of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s folk anthems “Carry On” and “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.”
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“We must all efficiently operationalize our stratgies,” sings Yankovic in wide, stereo-spanning vocal harmonies over peaceful acoustic guitar strums. Elsewhere in the Mandatory Fun cut, he delivers mouthfuls about how to “leverage our core competencies” and “holistically administrate exceptional synergy,” as an animated whiteboard supports the lyrics with illustrations.
I wanted to do a song about all the ridiculous double-speak and meaningless buzzwords that I’ve been hearing in office environments my entire life,” Yankovic said. “I just thought it would be ironic to juxtapose that with the song stylings of CSN, whose music pretty much symbolizes the antithesis of corporate America.”
As Speakeasy notes, Yankovic discussed the track in his recent Reddit AMA chat, noting that he bumped into Graham Nash while in New York. After Nash asked Yankovic when he planned to record a “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” parody, he responded by playing “Mission Statement” for him on his iPhone.
On Sunday, Yankovic unveiled the video for “Lame Claim to Fame,” which took aim at humble-braggers, name-droppers and self-congratulatory losers of modern web culture; the parody master has also shared the Lorde-parodying “Foil,” the Pixies-inspired “First World Problems,” the Iggy Azalea-spoofing “Handy,” the Pharrell-lampooning “Tacky,” the marching band fight song “Sports Song,” and “Word Crimes” which riffs on Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.”
Yankovic’s viral rampage was designed to capitalize on the fleeting nature of viral videos. That strategy appears to be paying off, as Mandatory Fun is on pace to top the Billboard 200. As Billboard reports, the album will mark Yankovic’s best first week of LP sales since Neilsen SoundScan began keeping track in 1991.