Bedrock Anthem

Album: Alapalooza (1993)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is a parody of two Red Hot Chili Peppers songs: the first verse of "Under The Bridge" and "Give It Away." The music video is similar to a Red Hot Chili Peppers video, except clips of the TV show The Flintstones (which is the basis for the parody) are included. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Danny - Franklin, GA
  • The beginning of the video also parodies Blind Melon's "No Rain" video, with the little girl dancing in a bee costume. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Cliff - Burkesville, KY
  • Al did a deep dive into the classic cartoon to prepare for the parody, which was released seven months before a live-action Flintstones movie hit theaters.

    "I figured that for once I'd have my song out before the actual phenomenon," he explained in the liner notes of his 1994 Permanent Record compilation. "I always wanted to do a tribute to The Flintstones because I think they're a big part of pop culture. I did a lot of research, really immersed myself in The Flintstones. I watched over 100 Flintstones episodes, because I had to not only re-familiarize myself with the characters, I had to find actual sound bites and animation from the series to use in the song and the video."
  • Words can take on negative connotations over time, which can lead to misinterpretation of a song's lyrics. In this case, the offender is the word "midget," a pejorative term for a person with dwarfism. Al describes Barney Rubble, Fred Flintstone's neighbor, as "a midget but he makes a lot of trouble."

    Yankovic told Lily Hirsch, author of the book Weird Al: Seriously, the term "was just sort of a jokey word and certainly not the slur that it's become... So I certainly wouldn't write a song like that now. Even when I perform songs that have that word in them, I wince a bit. And in fact, one time, I forget which city it was, but I stopped the song in the middle. I was like, 'Look, when I wrote this song, it wasn't that kind of word.'"

Comments: 5

  • Moosehead from Scof all of the great ones, this is my favorite. pull the birdy's tail!!
  • Chase from Miami, Flto Dan of Lee NH the intro is under the bridge, the greatest song ever by the peppers
  • Luke from Manchester, EnglandThe girl in the bee costume is a tribute to the song 'No Rain' by Blind Melon
  • Joe from Chicago, ArLOL!!!!!!!!!......this song is halerious......i love weird al
  • Dan from Lee, NhThe intro to this song sounds so much like Under The Bridge it's hard to tell the difference.
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