Off The Deep End
1992 | Rock
"Well you can't take my guns away, I got a Constitutional right. — Yeah, I gotta be ready if the commies attack us tonight. — I'll blow their brains out with my Smith and Wesson. — That out to teach 'em all a darn good lesson."
Trivia
- This album was the first album self-produced by Yankovic, after six albums with Rick Derringer.
- In 1993, Off the Deep End was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, however, the album lost.
- The album peaked at number seventeen on the Billboard 200.
THE HOT TAKES
Luke Tatum
This Beach Boys parody was undoubtedly written to take a stab at the gun rights crowd. However! It's so, so much fun. Sing along, (mostly) unironically!
Sherry Voluntary
Weird all is the king of parodies, and this one is an interesting mix of that “California sound” and polarizing subject matter. Listening to this song, I got the idea that good ol’ Al is not too crazy about the right to self defense and people freely owning the best tool to protect that right, firearms. Not only does it paint people who own guns as insane and irresponsible, but also bloodlusting. The lyrics “Got a brand new semi-automatic weapon with a laser sight, Oh, I'm prayin' somebody tries to break in here tonight” paints gun owners as hankering for an opportunity to use their weapons. It’s funny though because every abuse listed in the song is actually perpetrated by agents of The State on a regular basis. Whether it's being irresponsible dropping a gun and picking it up by grabbing the trigger and shooting into a crowd, murdering people for non-violent minor “crimes,” or out actively preying on the public through traffic stops. The real problem isn’t the millions of gun owners, it’s the cops that are protected by the legislators, who are protected by the cops, who are protected by the legislators, who are protected by the cops, and so it goes.
Nicky P
I’m not a gun enthusiast. I know it’s weird that there is a libertarian out there not getting his rocks off to firing weapons but I’ve never had an interest in them. I’m a country boy, so I grew up around them. Have no fear of them. I know how to respect them. I just have never felt kinship with them. I have and will always fight vociferously for them constitution be damned. Let’s call this another one of those Ice Cube styled teachable moments. This is literally how some people, and I suspect Yankovich amongst them, think of anyone who owns a gun. Just a backwards hillbilly more likely to shoot his own dog or himself than an intended target. The coastal mindset on guns perdonslly infuriates me. Like Luke mentioned if this song wasnt so catchy i‘d be downright murderous...wink. At least thats what the progressives would have you believe. So go forth with this lesson in how little gun owners are thought of in America.