"Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" (alternatively called "Pretty Fly (For a Rabbi)" in Australia) is a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is a parody of " Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" by

The Offspring The Offspring is an American rock band from Garden Grove, California, formed in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Bryan "Dexter" Holland, lead guit ...

, and it was released from the

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

album '' Running with Scissors''. The song was released as a single exclusively in Australia.

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire MacNeille (née Payne; born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress, whose credits include voicing Dot Warner on the animated television series '' Animaniacs'', Babs Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Chip and Gadget Hackwrenc ...

performs the line "How ya doin' Bernie?", and appears in the music video. Voice actress

Mary Kay Bergman Mary Kay Bergman (June 5, 1961 – November 11, 1999), also credited as Shannen Cassidy, was an American voice actress and voice-over teacher. She was the lead female voice actress on '' South Park'' from the show's 1997 debut until her death. Th ...

also contributes with the "For a rabbi!" line near the middle of the song. As opposed to the phrase "Gunter Glieben Glauten Globen" in the original song, Weird Al starts this song with the

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

sentence "Veren zol fun dir a blintsa" meaning "You should turn into a

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." At one point, Yankovic references the line "Mecca lecca hi, mecca hiney hiney ho" and "Mecca-lecca hi mecca lecca chahney ho!", catchphrases of Jambi, the wish-granting disembodied head from ''

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''.

Track listing

;Australian single # "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" – 3:02 # " Amish Paradise" – 3:20

Music video

A "music video" for the song was assembled for the singles release in Australia. Yankovic stated that his Australian record company decided to release "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" as a single and they insisted on releasing a video to go along with it. He decided against the idea, but told them that they could make one themselves by cutting together bits from '' "Weird Al" Yankovic Live!'', which they did.

Charts

References

{{Authority control "Weird Al" Yankovic songs 1999 singles Jewish comedy and humor Songs with lyrics by "Weird Al" Yankovic Songs written by Dexter Holland 1999 songs Volcano Entertainment singles