The Saga Begins (The Phantom Menace meets American Pie)

Inspired by my Star Wars Cantina post yesterday, here's another classic by no less than the legendary master of parody songs, Weird Al Yankovic. It's a clever take on The Phantom Menace to the tune of Don Mclean's epic "American Pie". The song is a narrative of events that happened throughout Episode I from Obi-Wan's perspective. Not only did Weird Al earn the approval of Don Mclean, according to Yankovic's official website "Lucasfilms' official response to the song was, "You should've seen the smile on [George Lucas] face." Pure genius!

The song is included in Weird Al's 1999 album "Running with Scissors"

The Saga Begins
by Weird Al Yankovic

A long, long time ago

In a galaxy far away

Naboo was under an attack

And I thought me and Qui-Gon Jinn

Could talk the federation in

To maybe cutting them a little slack

But their response, it didn't thrill us

They locked the doors and tried to kill us

We escaped from that gas

Then met Jar Jar and Boss Nass

We took a bongo from the scene

And we went to Theed to see the Queen

We all wound up on Tatooine

That's where we found this boy

Oh

My my this here Anakin guy

Maybe Vader someday later

Now he's just a small fry

He left his home

And kissed his mommy goodbye

Sayin'

"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

Did you know this junkyard slave

Isn't even old enough to shave

But he can use the Force, they say

Ahh, do you see him hitting on the queen

Though he's just nine and she's fourteen

Yeah, he's probably gonna marry her someday

Well, I know he built C-3PO

And I've heard how fast his pod can go

And we were broke, it's true

So we made a wager or two

He was a prepubescent flyin' ace

And the minute Jabba started off that race

Well, I knew who would win first place

Oh yes, it was our boy

We started singin'

My my this here Anakin guy

Maybe Vader someday later

Now he's just a small fry

And he left his home

And kissed his mommy goodbye

Sayin'

"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

Now we finally got to Coruscant

The Jedi Council we knew would want

To see how good the boy could be

So we took him there and we told the tale

How his midi-chlorians were off the scale

And he might fulfill that prophecy

Oh the Council was impressed of course

Could he bring balance to the Force?

They interviewed the kid

Oh, training they forbid

Because Yoda sensed in him much fear

And Qui-Gon said "Now listen here"

"Just stick it in your pointy ear"

"I still will teach this boy"

He was singin'

My my this here Anakin guy

Maybe Vader someday later

Now he's just a small fry

And he left his home

And kissed his mommy goodbye

Sayin'

"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

We caught a ride back to Naboo

'Cause Queen Amidala wanted to

I frankly would've liked to stay

We all fought in that epic war

And it wasn't long at all before

Little hotshot flew his plane and saved the day

And in the end some Gungans died

Some ships blew up and some pilots fried

A lot of folks were croakin'

The battle droids were broken

And the Jedi I admire most

Met up with Darth Maul and now he's toast

Well, I'm still here and he's a ghost

I guess I'll train this boy

And I was singin'

My my this here Anakin guy

Maybe Vader someday later

Now he's just a small fry

And he left his home

And kissed his mommy goodbye

Sayin'

"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

"Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

We were singin'

My my this here Anakin guy

Maybe Vader someday later

Now he's just a small fry

And he left his home

And kissed his mommy goodbye

Sayin' "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"

The Star Wars Cantina

Wohoo! It's karaoke time at the Carinderia!

The Star Wars Cantina

by Richard Cheese

(to the tune of Barry Manilow's "Copacabana")

"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope" (spoken by Princess Leia)

Her name was Leia

She was a princess

With a danish on each ear

And Darth Vader drawing near

So R2-D2

Found Ben Kenobi

He'd have to put the Death Star plans

Into the rebellion's hands

So Luke and Obi-Wan

Had to get to Alderaan

So they stopped into Mos Eisley to have a drink with Han

(CHORUS)

at the Star Wars, Star Wars Cantina

The weirdest creatures you've ever seen-a

Here at the Star Wars, Star Wars Cantina

Music and blasters

And old Jedi masters

At the Star Wars....

His name was Solo

He was a pilot

With a blaster at his side

And a smile 12 parsecs wide

There with Chewbacca

He was a wookie

They met with Luke and Obi-Wan

About the Millenium Falcon

Docking bay ninety-four

Stormtroopers at the door

With a flash of Ben's light-saber, now there's an arm on the floor

(REPEAT CHORUS)

"Mos Eisley spaceport...you will never find the more wretched hive

of scum and villainy. We must be cautious." (spoken by Ben Kenobi)

His name was Yoda

He was a muppet

Darth Vader was so bad

And by the way, he's Luke's dad

Luke kissed his sister

His hand got cut-off

In that galaxy far, far away

Luke has had a lousy day

Boba Fett was so mean

Jabba had bad hygiene

Why didn't they all just relax back on Tatooine

(REPEAT CHORUS)

"The force will be with you...always." (spoken by Ben)

From Wikipedia:

Mark Jonathan Davis, later of Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine, made a parody song of Barry Manilow's "Copacabana", called "Star Wars Cantina," released in 1996.^[5] Davis used the melody of that song; his lyrics are a rough outline of Star Wars Episodes 4 through 6. The song received significant radio airplay, along with "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Yoda", in the run-up to the 1997 release of the Star Wars Special Edition VHS box set and the 1999 release of The Phantom Menace. "Star Wars Cantina" is often erroneously attributed to Yankovic.