‘Weird Al’ Yankovic – Bob Review

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Ripped right from his 2003 release, Poodle Hat, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s Bob is a nice ode to the early days of Bob Dylan. It comes at a time of reinvigorated interest in the legendary songwriter, whose Love and Theft may have gone underrated by events of the day, but built an incredible following. It was a mark of consistency people were not expecting after the miraculous Time Out of Mind. Yankovic remains an exceptional oddity who could not survive if fresh from today. He continues with a loyal base, hungry for more of his out-there and infinitely friendly experiences. Lyrical talent in the form of parody, done with such consistency, is absurd. Yet ‘Weird Al’ has kept it moving, all the while improving and articulating some of the finest songs around. Bob feels like both a ribbing and tribute to the great songwriter.  

An obvious play on Subterranean Homesick Blues, Bob becomes a fascinating adaptation and understanding of why we return to the folk legend. His voice is imitable, his lyrics borderline nonsense, as evidenced by anyone who has suffered through Tarantula, and yet it works. He remains a genius and even in this act of parodical understanding, what stands tall is how confidence is key to any performance involving a use of language we just cannot grasp. Bob has the same energy to it, a spirited performance from Yankovic which hits all the right interpretations of Dylan. Harmonica spots, a delicate acoustic which holds surprising energy to it and a vocal performance which relies on conviction in the face of easy misinterpretation. This is beyond parody or imitation. Yankovic manages to do what Cate Blanchett did in I’m Not There.  

Perhaps that is a tad far – though this comes more from the style of writing Yankovic uses in poking the Dylan-shaped beast. Pagoda this, banana that, it feels a bit too zany for its own good, but Bob remains the closest anyone has come to successfully riffing on and adapting the Dylan style to an original. Lasagna hog Yankovic plays well with the short and sweet form of Subterranean Homesick Blues. It is not that he has a blueprint of the song laid out in front of him, it is more a general and accessible read on Dylan as a folk protest hero. A fun, fast, and free song which knows it pokes fun at the man but respectfully so. Yankovic does not pry and needle his way into this style with a new meaning or interpretation, just a gentle ribbing which settles well because he nails the sound.  

That is crucial to Bob, to any ‘Weird Al’ track, if we are to be brutally honest. It lives or dies not on the contemporary survival of the swap-out, like eBay for instance, but on the conviction found in interpreting the tone and style of the artist in question. Bob is an exceptional piece because it makes good not just on the fundamentals of Dylan in that period, but on the subsequent reaction to his wordplay, to his thoughts and lyrical ambiguity. That much is genius from Yankovic, who does well to manoeuvre around the inevitable potholes and troubles that may come from adapting and engaging an artist who, in his music, feels somewhat unknowable.