Eat It

"Eat It" is a 1984 song by American comedy music artist "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a spoof of Michael Jackson's 1983 single "Beat It", with the contents changed to be about an exasperated parent attempting to get their picky child to eat. The track was both a commercial and critical success, earning Yankovic a Grammy Award. It peaked at number twelve in the United States, making it his first top 40 hit in that country, and reached number one in Australia.

This article is about the song. For the Humble Pie album, see Eat It (album).

"Eat It"
Single by "Weird Al" Yankovic
from the album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D
B-side"That Boy Could Dance"
ReleasedFebruary 28, 1984
RecordedDecember 13, 1983
Genre
Length3:19
LabelScotti Brothers
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Rick Derringer
"Weird Al" Yankovic singles chronology
"I Love Rocky Road"
(1983)		 "Eat It"
(1984)		 "King of Suede"
(1984)
Alternative covers
British single cover
Alternative cover
Japanese single cover

History

The famous guitar solo, originally performed by Eddie Van Halen, was reproduced by Yankovic's producer, Rick Derringer.

According to Yankovic, when he presented his lyrics to Jackson for review, he did not know what kind of reaction he would get. Jackson allegedly thought it was amusing, and agreed to allow the parody.[1] On October 19, 1989, the RIAA certified "Eat It" as a gold single.[2]

Reception

The single reached number 1 in Australia, and it was his highest-charting US single on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 12 until "White & Nerdy" peaked at number 9 in October 2006.[3] "Eat It" earned Yankovic a 1984 Grammy Award in the Best Comedy Recording category.[4] "Eat It" also outranked "Beat It" in overall highest position on the Australian Aria Charts, with its highest rank being number 1, while "Beat It"'s highest is third. The RIAA certified "Eat It" as a gold single on October 19, 1989.[2]

Track listing

1984 release
  1. "Eat It" – 3:19
  2. "That Boy Could Dance" – 3:32

1985/1993 re-release
  1. "Eat It" – 3:19
  2. "I Lost on Jeopardy" – 3:26

Music video

The video for "Eat It" is styled as a shot-for-shot remake of Jackson's video for "Beat It", but with elements being parodied in various silly ways and Yankovic dressed as Jackson. The video also features a few of the same dancers from Jackson's video and Yankovic mimicking the dance moves from the original video in a clumsy manner.[5] The video ends with Yankovic looking into the camera with yellow eyes, a reference to the end of Jackson's video for "Thriller".

Jackson received royalties from Yankovic due to the strong similarities.[6]

Legacy

As part of a charity effort during the COVID-19 pandemic, David Cross and Bob Odenkirk held a Mr. Show online reunion show in May 2020 with many of their former cast members as well as other friends. The show concluded by having Cross, Odenkirk and their cast, as well as Yankovic, sing "Eat It", in a purposely tone-deaf manner that parodied a prior cover performance of "Imagine" that Gal Gadot and other celebrities had done for COVID-19 awareness but which had been taken as ineffectual.[7]

Yankovic had pulled "Eat It" and his other Jackson song parody, "Fat", from the setlist of his Strings Attached Tour in the wake of the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, in which two men claimed Jackson had sexually abused them when they were children. "I don't know if that's going to be permanent or not," Yankovic said of the decision. "But we just felt that with what's happened recently with the HBO documentaries, we didn't want anybody to feel uncomfortable."[8]

Chart history
Chart (1984-1985) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[9] 1
Canada RPM Top Singles 5
Irish Singles Chart[10] 18
New Zealand Singles Chart[11] 6
UK Singles Chart 36
US Billboard Hot 100 12

See also

References
  1. "Musical mimicry...and then some: Weird Al Yankovic's video antics come to life on stage". The Windsor Star. March 23, 1995. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  2. "Gold & Platinum - 'Weird Al' Yankovic". RIAA. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  3. Eat It's Highest Ranking on the Billboard 100
  4. "Nerds Rejoice: 'Weird Al' Talks Grammy Noms". Rolling Stone. February 8, 2007. Archived from the original on February 11, 2007.
  5. Russell, Lisa (April 16, 1984). "A Playful Poke at Beat It Has Made Weird Al Yankovic the Pooh-Bah of Put-Ons". People. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  6. Campbell 1995, p. 154.
  7. Kohn, Daniel (May 13, 2020). "David Cross, Bryan Cranston, Jack Black and Many More Team Up to Sing Weird Al's 'Eat It'". Spin. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  8. Graff, Gary (June 27, 2019). "'Weird Al' Yankovic Explains His Decision to Drop Michael Jackson Parodies From Set List". Billboard. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  9. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 344. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  10. "Search" Archived June 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Irish Charts. In the "Search by Artist" field, put in Weird Al Yankocic. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  11. "Werid Al Yankovic - Eat It". New Zealand Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 18, 2014.

Eat It Official Video on YouTube

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