Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press

In a statement that will be posted on his blog, Weird Al Yankovic wrote:

Well, this was a strange day. After putting my Lady Gaga parody on YouTube this morning – and announcing that it wouldn’t be on my next album because Gaga didn’t approve it – there was a huge outpouring of disappointment from the Internet. Apparently the fact that she didn’t approve it was news to Lady Gaga herself! Gaga’s manager has now admitted that he never forwarded my parody to Gaga – she had no idea at all. Even though we assumed that Gaga herself was the one making the decision (because, well, that’s what we were TOLD), he apparently made the decision completely on his own, without any input from Gaga. He’s sorry. And Gaga loves the song. I’m thrilled on many levels to hear this, because 1) I truly respect and admire Gaga as an artist and it pained me to think of her as having less than a great sense of humor, and 2) it means I GET TO PUT OUT MY ALBUM! As promised, all my proceeds from the song (and the MUSIC VIDEO… I can’t wait…) will go to the Human Rights Campaign. Thank you, Gaga. And thanks to everybody who had my back. Whew! Your pal,

Al

Jay Levey, a manager for Weird Al Yankovic, said on Wednesday evening that permission had been given for “Perform This Way” to appear on Mr. Yankovic’s new album. An update was expected to appear on Mr. Yankovic’s blog.

Earlier today, ArtsBeat reported on the unlikely saga of “Perform This Way,” a send-up of the Lady Gaga song “Born This Way” that the pop-music parodist Weird Al Yankovic recorded and planned to release on his next album — until Lady Gaga said she wouldn’t allow it. That’s funny, because we happen to have Mr. Yankovic right here: in these excerpts from a telephone interview, he explains why he sought Lady Gaga’s blessing, how his parodies have mutually benefited him and the artists he satirizes, and who he might parody next.

Q.

I know this isn’t what you would have hoped for, but has this episode helped garner publicity for the song that it might not have received otherwise?

A.

It’s certainly more helpful than not ever letting anybody hear the song. It’s nowhere near as helpful as it would have been to actually have it on the album. That would not only help me – because I’ve been waiting five years to put out my album – but it would also be helping the HRC [Human Rights Campaign] and be doing a lot of good. The whole thing’s extremely disappointing. I’m trying to find the positive aspect of this, but right now I’m still pretty bummed that I don’t have an album release.

Q.

In the spirit of fairness, I should let you know we’ve also reached out to Lady Gaga to see if she will comment on this.

A.

I’m going to guess not. I will put money on not.

Q.

You customarily ask artists for permission to parody their songs, but couldn’t you legally release your parodies without their blessing?

A.

Truthfully, it is still a gray area. I always feel more comfortable knowing that I’ve got the artist’s blessing on it.

Q.

You very vividly re-enacted the experience of asking Michael Jackson for permission to parody one of his songs.

A.

Well, that was a bit fictionalized. But Michael had a great sense of humor about it. In fact, I credit my having a career in a large part to Michael Jackson because he gave me his blessing back in 1983, ’84, when people really didn’t know who I was or what I was about. It was that kind of confidence in what I was doing that allowed me to do keep doing it all these years.

Q.

Except for a few years ago when James Blunt denied you permission to parody one of his songs, it seems like this happens to you very rarely.

A.

It is pretty rare. That came more from Blunt’s record label, Atlantic Records. From what I heard, he had approved it, and then after the fact, his record label talked him out of it, saying, Oh, no, this this isn’t a good idea. That was odd, because you’d think that the record label would be happy to have the additional income. From a purely bottom-line standpoint, whenever I do a parody, the original artist makes more money, they sell more albums. In fact, I was talking to a record executive from Nirvana’s label who said he firmly believed that because of my parody, Nirvana sold an extra million copies of “Nevermind.” It all boils down to whether the artist can take a joke.

Q.

Prior to Lady Gaga, has an artist ever asked you to hear the entire, finished song before they make their decision?

A.

That’s unprecedented. That was just baffling to me. Frankly, what’s going to change between a lyrics sheet and a finished version? I suppose I could have done a demo version for them, but I’m not sure that would have sufficed. For one thing, I never do demos of my parodies because frankly, there’s no need to. When I do a parody, I already know what it’s going to sound like. There’s no experimenting to be done. This is it. But I was given an ultimatum – if we don’t literally hear it, you can forget about getting permission.

Q.

And you’re certain the decision was coming directly from her?

A.

You were kind of implying that it was her camp – they expressed over and over that it was in fact Lady Gaga herself making the decision. So unless they were not being truthful, we were dealing through her manager. He always strongly implied he was just a gateway, that Lady Gaga would have the final decision; it was completely up to her.

Q.

Did you get any explanation of why Lady Gaga said no?

A.

No. We’ve been asking. After she said no initially, we went back to her and explained the whole charity thing. I even said that I’d be willing to revise my lyrics if there was anything in there that was potentially really offensive to her. I kind of feel bad that I even did that, because that sounds kind of pathetic. But I really wanted this parody to come out, and I was willing to bend over, even further than I had already. But we got no response, and after a week they just confirmed that the answer was still no. At that point I decided that I would leak it out there.

Q.

You wrote to Lady Gaga and her management that in “Perform This Way,” you were assuming the persona of “a Lady Gaga doppelganger of sorts.” But aren’t you really pretending to be her, and mocking her?

A.

Maybe that was the wrong word. It’s much the same way I was Kurt Cobain for “Smells Like Nirvana” – I was essentially pretending to be her in the context of the song. But having said that, I don’t think it was any personal attack. I certainly don’t think that my humor was mean-spirited. I was making fun of her style and the over-the-top way that she performs and appears in public. I didn’t think I was doing anything that was really patently offensive.

Q.

Given the message of inclusiveness and tolerance that Lady Gaga promotes, are you surprised she isn’t open to people who poke fun at her?

A.

You know what? I’m going to let people draw their own conclusions. [laughs]

Q.

What’s the status of your album now?

A.

I need what is ostensibly going to be a hit single. I’ve got 11 of the 12 tracks done, and I’ve just been waiting for the big one. I thought this was it, and we all thought, ‘Gee, if Lady Gaga makes us go through all this trouble she’s certainly not going to tell us no.’ And we were wrong.

Q.

But now that people have heard this song, can’t you just put out the rest of the tracks you’ve recorded?

A.

I never like to put out an album unless there’s one song that is a real strong, current, topical single that I can do a video of. There’s a lot of strong stuff on the album. There’s a lot of very funny parodies. But I really feel like I need something a bit more timely and I guess now I have to wait for yet another next big thing.

Q.

How about Kanye West? He seems like he’s got a pretty good sense of humor about himself.

A.

He would be a great target. That’s certainly an option. He’s one of many people I’m considering.