Churn, baby churn.

Everyone can use a good laugh on Mondays, and The Nest aims to combine its musical Monday routine with a hearty helping of comedy for the next few months.  It’s our Top 30 Weird Al Parodies countdown!  We’re still very early in the game, but this week we’re gonna feature yet another one of Weird Al’s songs that almost everyone knows and loves…… if your name ain’t Coolio.

#26. “Amish Paradise” – (Parody of “Gangsta’s Paradise” – Coolio)

Turning a song about life in the ghetto into a song about life on an Amish settlement?  Only Weird Al Yankovic could have pulled this off and had the result turn out to be hilarious….

While it’s generally not considered kosher by the pussies snowflakes sensitive people out there to poke fun at people based on their religious beliefs, the Amish have long been excluded from the protected groups.  Admit it, you’ve turned your head and got in a gawk or three when you’re out and about and run across a group of people all dressed like extras from a movie set in the 18th Century.  It’s natural, and Weird Al plays off that perfectly to turn a hymn about a group you’re not allowed to make fun of into a riotous send up of a group that we love to giggle at…

At least not intentionally make fun of…

So we get gags about the plain dress and bearded men of the Amish, the fear of electricity, barn raising, and of course that favorite of Amish activities churning butter!

Of course, there was one person out there who wasn’t laughing at “Amish Paradise,” and he was far from a Mennonite…

Dafuq you do to my song?

Artis Leon Ivey, Jr., who we all know as Coolio, was not impressed as he thought the serious message about life in da hood was blasphemed by Weird Al turning it into a play on the Amish.  Weird Al had a longstanding policy of seeking the permission of the original artist before releasing a parody… and while Al got the thumbs up from Coolio’s record label, the rapper himself had apparently declined.  Considering that “Amish Paradise” was set to be the flagship song of Yankovic’s next album, of which the title and cover art was to be a play on Coolio’s signature hairstyle, you can understand why Al just did the song and video anyway…

And to his credit, Coolio was man enough to admit when he was wrong… admitting in a number of interviews prior to his death last September that he shouldn’t have been so vocal in his refusal of allowing Weird Al to parody his song, and that he even liked the result.  Unlike a certain other artist who was always hostile towards Weird Al’s efforts to make the world a better place….

Weird Al calling again? Put that mofo on hold and make him listen to “When Doves Cry” for eternity!

One other note… that scene in the video where the raised barn falls around Weird Al where he’s saved by the empty space for the hayloft?  Al did that stunt himself!  Would you be brave enough to trust that everything was set up just right?

Join The Nest next Monday as we get into the Top 25 of the countdown!