It's All About the Pentiums

Infobox Single
Name = It's All About the Pentiums


Artist = "Weird Al" Yankovic
from Album = Running with Scissors
Released = August 4 1999
B-side = "The Saga Begins"
Format = CD
Recorded = April 19 1999
Genre = Comedy
Length = 3:34
Label = Volcano Records
Writer = "Weird Al" Yankovic
Producer = "Weird Al" Yankovic
Last single = "The Saga Begins"
(1999)
This single = "It's All about the Pentiums"
(1999)
Next single = "Polka Power!"
(1999)
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = Running with Scissors
Type = studio
Tracks =
# "The Saga Begins"
# "My Baby's In Love With Eddie Vedder"
# "Pretty Fly For A Rabbi"
# "The Weird Al Show Theme"
# "Jerry Springer"
# "Germs"
# "Polka Power!"
# "Your Horoscope For Today"
# "It's All About the Pentiums"
# "Truck Drivin' Song"
# "Grapefruit Diet"
# "Albuquerque"

"It's All About the Pentiums" is a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a parody of "It's All about the Benjamins (Rock Remix)" by Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and focuses on the narrator's obsession with his computer's hardware.

Track listing

The following tracks are on the single:
# "It's All About The Pentiums" – 3:34
# "The Saga Begins" – 5:28
# "The Saga Begins Music Video"

The promo single only contains "It's All About the Pentiums".

Writing

Yankovic has admitted to writing the song a few days before the entire album had to be mastered:"I almost always record the lead vocals first. The only exception that comes to mind is “It’s All About The Pentiums.” I had pitched Puff Daddy on the parody idea, and by the time I finally got his official approval, we were already in the final studio sessions for “Running With Scissors”! It was such a last minute addition to the album that I had no choice but to record all the instrument tracks and background vocals first, just to buy me some time to come up with the lyrics. We were mixing the last few songs on the album by the time I finished writing the lyrics to “Pentiums,” and I wound up recording the lead vocals just a couple days before the album had to be mastered. It’s a good thing I work well under pressure!" [http://www.weirdal.com/aaarchive.htm#111505 Ask Al November 2005]

Music video

The music video is a parody of several rap videos.

*The video features several "as live" performance scenes. The crowd consists of office workers and features a large COMDEX sign behind the band.
*In one concert scene, an office worker is foaming at the mouth.
*Some office workers are seen dancing with the band onstage. One even does a stage dive.
*At the video's beginning, an "old school" car is seen pulling up outside the offices. Initially, the camera is angled at the car's front, yet when it switches to a side view of the car, we see it is ridiculously small. Out of it steps Yankovic, accompanied by four doves, who later become four of his dancers. The car is the car Weird Al used in his movie "UHF".
*As the video is about computers, most of the scenes take place in an office. Yankovic's drummer, Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, is seen in several of these bits as an office worker.
*At the line, "You could back up your whole hard drive on a floppy diskette," Yankovic's dancers are seen waving around floppy disks.
*Emo Phillips, who had worked with Yankovic on "UHF" and "The Weird Al Show", is seen as the object of ridicule, sitting in front of a computer in a small orange room and doing things that are mentioned in the song. He waxes his modem, "trying to make it go faster," takes out correction fluid and dabs some on his computer screen, takes an Etch-a-Sketch from the monitor's side and shakes it violently, and proudly shows a picture of Sarah Michelle Gellar from his printer.
*During one concert scene, Yankovic can be seen smashing several types of computers with a sledgehammer, including a PC monitor and a laptop.
*A Bill Gates look-alike is seen at the song's appropriate line. He answers the phone when Yankovic calls him and " [makes] him do [his] tech support," and responds by shaking his head and looking to the sky.
*A bald Phil LaMarr cameos as an office worker in a concert scene.
*Yankovic and Drew Carey are seen in a fluorescent-lit tunnel. This and the outfits they wear are based on the performances of Mase and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs in the music video for the Notorious B.I.G.'s song, "Mo Money Mo Problems".:*While Yankovic is singing, Carey touches a light with both hands and jumps back.:*At one point, Yankovic does a "flapping" motion with his arms, stretching them out and waving them. Carey can be seen doing various things, such as waving to the viewer. Eventually, Yankovic slaps Carey away with the back of his hand.:*In the final tunnel scene, Carey wipes something off of the screen. Yankovic pushes him away.
*The end of the music video features Yankovic in a concert scene ripping off his sunglasses and, wide-eyed, screaming the song's final line, "What?!", into the camera. He does a similar move in live performances.

ee also

*List of singles by "Weird Al" Yankovic
*List of songs by "Weird Al" Yankovic

References

* [http://www.weirdal.com "Weird Al's" Official Page]
* [http://www.myspace.com/weirdal Al's Official MySpace Page]