Amish Paradise#Coolio's response

{{Infobox song

| name = Amish Paradise

| cover = 200px-AmishAl.jpg

| alt =

| border = yes

| type = single

| artist = "Weird Al" Yankovic

| album = Bad Hair Day

| B-side =

"Everything You Know Is Wrong"
"The Night Santa Went Crazy" (extra gory version)

| released = March 12, 1996

| recorded = January 15, 1996, in Houston, Texas

| studio =

| venue =

| genre =

| length = 3:20

| label = Scotti Brothers

| writer =

Artis Ivey, Jr.
Larry Sanders
Doug Rasheed
Stevie Wonder
"Weird Al" Yankovic

| lyricist =

"Weird Al" Yankovic
Sherwood Schwartz
George Wyle

| prev_title = Headline News

| prev_year = 1994

| next_title = Gump

| next_year = 1996

| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|lOfZLb33uCg|"Amish Paradise"}}}}

}}

"Amish Paradise"{{Citation |title="Weird" Al Yankovic Amish paradise song and video |url=https://www.bitchute.com/video/cvkNhS7f78PV/ |language=en |access-date=2022-05-02}} is a 1996 single by satirist "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a parody of the hip hop song "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio featuring L.V. (which itself is a reworking of the Stevie Wonder song "Pastime Paradise"). Featured on the album Bad Hair Day, it turns the original "Gangsta's Paradise", in which the narrator laments his dangerous way of life, on its head by presenting an Amish man praising his relatively plain and uncomplicated existence.

Track listing

"Amish Paradise" – 3:20
"Everything You Know Is Wrong" – 3:46
"The Night Santa Went Crazy" (extra gory version) – 3:59
"Dare to Be Stupid" (instrumental) – 3:25

Coolio's response

Yankovic sought permission from Coolio before making "Amish Paradise", offering a percentage of the revenues. Yankovic was given rights to use the song by the record company (non-exclusive rights holders) and producer Doug Rasheed, but not by Coolio himself, who declined when presented with Weird Al's offer and subsequently decried the release.{{cite web |last=Mc Keon |first=Connor |url=https://www.vulture.com/2011/12/gangstas-parodist-revisiting-weird-al-vs-coolio.html |title=Gangsta's Parodist: Revisiting "Weird Al" vs. Coolio |date=December 19, 2011 |work=Vulture magazine |access-date=October 13, 2021}}{{cite web |last=Nunn |first=Christina |url=https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/coolio-regrets-rejecting-weird-al-yankovic.html/ |title=Coolio Deeply Regrets Rejecting an Offer From 'Weird Al' Yankovic: 'That Was 1 of the Dumbest Things I Did in My Career' |date=March 7, 2021 |work=Showbiz Cheat Sheet |access-date=October 13, 2021}}{{cite web | url=https://uproxx.com/music/why-weird-al-yankovic-coolio-have-beef/ | title=Why Did 'Weird Al' Yankovic and Coolio Have Beef? (Don't post) | date=30 September 2022 }}{{cite news | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/2022/10/03/he-put-some-magic-on-that-track-the-story-of-gangstas-paradise-coolios-biggest-hit/ | title='He put some magic on that track': The story of Gangsta's Paradise, Coolio's biggest hit | newspaper=The Irish Times }}

Yankovic later stated on VH1's Behind the Music that he had written a sincere letter of apology to Coolio, which was never returned, and that Coolio never complained when he received his royalty check from proceeds of the song. A series of photos taken at the XM Satellite Radio booth at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show suggests that Yankovic and Coolio had made amends.{{cite web|url=http://yankovic.org/blog/2006/01/08/weird-and-coolio/|title=Weird and COOLIO?! |publisher=Yank Blog |date=January 8, 2006 |access-date=2008-11-22| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081012165721/http://yankovic.org/blog/2006/01/08/weird-and-coolio/| archive-date= 12 October 2008 | url-status= live}} In a 2014 interview, Coolio stated that the decision to refuse the parody at the time was "stupid" and he wished that someone on his management had stopped him, and then considered the final parody to be "funny".{{cite web | url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/after-all-these-years-coolio-still-lets-his-nuts-hang/ | title = After All These Years, Coolio Still Lets His Nuts Hang | date = April 28, 2014 | access-date = July 15, 2014 | work = Vice | first = Dan | last = Ozzi }}

During an interview with Sean Evans on Hot Ones in 2016, Coolio further expressed regret for how he initially responded to "Amish Paradise". "In hindsight, it was stupid of me to say something about [Yankovic] doing a parody of 'Gangsta's Paradise'," he said. "I mean, he did Michael Jackson, he did Prince. You know, people who were definitely more talented than I am. I think Prince did say something... but he wasn't very vocal about it like I was. And it just made me look dumb... It was one of the dumb things I did. And I'm willing to admit I did something stupid."{{Citation|title=Coolio Talks Hip-Hop Cooking and "Gangsta's Paradise" Folklore While Eating Spicy Wings {{!}} Hot Ones|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C79nHzODu0o|language=en|access-date=2020-01-20}}

Music video

Yankovic directed the music video for "Amish Paradise" himself, as he has done for many of his music videos since 1986. The music video for "Amish Paradise" closely mirrors the "Gangsta's Paradise" music video, although several concepts are parodied.{{cite web|title=Video Facts |url=http://www.weirdal.com/videtc.htm |work=weirdal.com |access-date=9 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061110025414/http://weirdal.com/videtc.htm |archive-date=10 November 2006 }} Though Yankovic wanted to film in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where there is a large concentration of Amish, the travel cost to bring everyone needed for filming there was too much, so filming took place in southern California. Many of the extras in the video are Yankovic's own relatives.{{cite video | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N199QWMqauA | title = Does Weird Al Know His Lyrics From His Biggest Songs? | date = June 23, 2025 | accessdate = June 23, 2025 | publisher = Variety | via = YouTube }} The video also features Florence Henderson as the Michelle Pfeiffer character from Dangerous Minds in the original video.{{cite magazine|last1=Reese|first1=Doug|title=Directing Is Yankovic's "Paradise"|magazine=Billboard|date=30 March 1996|page=144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gA0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA144|access-date=17 May 2015}} Yankovic said in 2022 that recording the Buster Keaton gag with the falling house frame was the scariest stunt he had ever done.{{cite web |last1=GQ |title="Weird Al" Yankovic Breaks Down His Most Iconic Tracks |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETyCK9mqhDI |website=YouTube |access-date=27 April 2023}}

Personnel

According to the liner notes of The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic:{{Cite AV media notes |last=Yankovic |first="Weird Al" |title=The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic |date=2009-10-29 |others= |language=English |type=booklet}}

"Weird Al" Yankovic – lead & background vocals, choir vocals
Steve Jay – bass guitar, synth bass, choir vocals
Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz – drum programming
Rubén Valtierra – synthesizers
Lisa Popeil – choir vocals
Jim West – choir vocals

Chart performance

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
Chart (1996) !Peak position
scope="row"\|US Billboard Hot 100[Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–2002] \|53
scope="row"\|US Cash Box Top 100{{cite web\|url=http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/90s_files/19960518.html \|title=Top 100 1996-05-18 \|work=Cashbox Magazine \|access-date=2015-03-19 }} \|50

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

Chart (1996)

!Peak
position

scope="row"|US Billboard Hot 100[Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–2002]

|53

scope="row"|US Cash Box Top 100{{cite web|url=http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/90s_files/19960518.html |title=Top 100 1996-05-18 |work=Cashbox Magazine |access-date=2015-03-19 }}

|50

Rerecording

In 2022, for the film Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, Yankovic rerecorded the track, as well as four others. In the film, Yankovic's fictional father reveals that he was raised Amish, and Yankovic finds a lyric sheet written by his father called "Amish Paradise" and decides to perform the song.