"Lasagna" is a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic

"Weird Al" Yankovic

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...

. It is a parody of "La Bamba

La Bamba (song)

"La Bamba" is a Mexican folk song, originally from the state of Veracruz, best known from a 1958 adaptation by Ritchie Valens, a top 40 hit in the U.S. charts and one of early rock and roll's best-known songs...

", a traditional song popularized by Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens

Ritchie Valens was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter and guitarist....

 and Los Lobos

Los Lobos

Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...

.

Track listing

The following tracks are on the single:

1. "Lasagna" – 2:45
2. "Velvet Elvis" – 4:27

The promo single only contains "Lasagna".

Writing and release

When Yankovic began writing the song, he claimed:
Under U.S. law, Yankovic can parody any song he wants as long as he pays royalties to use the original music. However, as a personal rule, he asks for permission anyway in order to maintain good relations with the industry. This particular song is an exception to that rule. Although the song is a parody

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

 of the Los Lobos

Los Lobos

Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...

 cover version, "Lasagna" marked Yankovic's first parody that did not require either permission from an artist or a payment of royalties, since the song "La Bamba" is a traditional folk song that is not attributed to any specific writer.

The single was released exclusively in Japan as a mini 3" CD single

CD single

A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...

.

Music video

There is no full-length music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for this single, though a shortened music video segment was shown in 1997 as a part of The Weird Al Show

The Weird Al Show

The Weird Al Show is a television show hosted by "Weird Al" Yankovic. Produced in association with Dick Clark Productions, it aired Saturday mornings on the CBS TV network from September to December 1997. The show was released on DVD on August 15, 2006...

.

• The video features a stereotypical Italian family, including an elderly woman, two children, a rather large man for "Cousin Luigi" and Yankovic (sans glasses) as the father.
• When the line "A-don't you get any on ya, you sloppy pig" is sung, the elderly woman at the dinner table drops the lasagna into Luigi's lap.
• After "Have-a more ravioli" is sung, two children catch ravioli
  Ravioli
  Ravioli are a traditional type of Italian filled pasta. They are composed of a filling sealed between two layers of thin egg pasta dough and are served either in broth or with a pasta sauce. The word ravioli is reminiscent of the Italian verb riavvolgere , though the two words are not...
  
   in their mouth.
• Near the end, lasagna is falling out of Luigi's mouth.
• The elderly woman and one of the children fight over the lasagna near the end.
• At the end, the family does a dance. First they simply wave from side to side with their hands on each other's shoulders while still seated. Then, they stand up from their chairs, which move off-screen, as does the table. Yankovic takes his plate of lasagna off the table. They all do a can can-type dance as confetti and balloons fall from the ceiling, and at the cheering section at the end, the others gather around Yankovic as he holds out his plate proudly.

Italian dishes mentioned in "Lasagna"

Yankovic names many Italian dishes

Italian cuisine

Italian cuisine has developed through centuries of social and political changes, with roots as far back as the 4th century BCE. Italian cuisine in itself takes heavy influences, including Etruscan, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, Byzantine, Jewish and Arab cuisines...

 in "Lasagna", including:

• Lasagna
  Lasagna
  Lasagna is a wide and flat type of pasta and possibly one of the oldest shapes. As with most other pasta shapes, the word is generally used in its plural form lasagne in Italy and the U.K. Traditionally, the dough was prepared in Southern Italy with semolina and water and in the northern regions,...
  
  
• Spaghetti
  Spaghetti
  Spaghetti is a long, thin, cylindrical pasta of Italian origin. Spaghetti is made of semolina or flour and water. Italian dried spaghetti is made from durum wheat semolina, but outside of Italy it may be made with other kinds of flour...
  
  
• Calzone
  Calzone
  A calzone Italian: , "stocking" or "trouser") is a turnover that originates from Italy. It is shaped like a semicircle, made of dough folded over and filled with ingredients common to pizza....
  
  
• Minestrone
  Minestrone
  Minestrone is the name for a variety of thick Italian soups made with vegetables, often with the addition of pasta or rice. Common ingredients include beans, onions, celery, carrots, stock, and tomatoes....
  
  
• Marinara
  Tomato sauce
  A tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...
  
  
• Zucchini
  Zucchini
  The zucchini is a summer squash which often grows to nearly a meter in length, but which is usually harvested at half that size or less. It is a hybrid of the cucumber. Along with certain other squashes, it belongs to the species Cucurbita pepo. Zucchini can be dark or light green...
  
  
• Linguini
• Fettuccine
  Fettuccine
  Fettuccine is a type of pasta popular in Roman Cuisine. It is a flat thick noodle made of egg and flour wider than but similar to the tagliatelle typical of Bologna...
  
  
• Ravioli
  Ravioli
  Ravioli are a traditional type of Italian filled pasta. They are composed of a filling sealed between two layers of thin egg pasta dough and are served either in broth or with a pasta sauce. The word ravioli is reminiscent of the Italian verb riavvolgere , though the two words are not...
  
  

Trivia

The liner notes of "The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic

The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic

The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic is a two disc compilation album by "Weird Al" Yankovic. A limited edition "3.0" version of the album has a third disc. It is published by Sony Music's Legacy Recordings as part of their The Essential series...

" incorrectly identify "Lasagna" as an original song by "Weird Al" Yankovic, rather than a parody.

This song plays on a radio in a cave scene in the live-action Yogi Bear movie

Yogi Bear (film)

Yogi Bear is a 2010 American live-action film adaptation of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series The Yogi Bear Show directed by Eric Brevig. The film stars Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake, Tom Cavanagh, Anna Faris, T. J. Miller, Nate Corddry, and Andrew Daly....

.

See also

• List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic
• List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic