"Trapped in the Drive-Thru" is the eleventh song from "Weird Al" Yankovic's twelfth studio album '' Straight Outta Lynwood'', which was released on September 26, 2006. This song is a parody of ''

Trapped in the Closet ''Trapped in the Closet'' is a musical film, musical soap opera series by American contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter & producer R. Kelly, with 33 "chapters" released sporadically from 2005 to 2012. Written, produced, and directed by Kelly, ...

'' by

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwi ...

. To date, the song is Yankovic's longest parody, and his second longest song ever released on his studio albums (with the longest being "

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

"). The song contains an interpolation of " Black Dog" by

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

at 6:24, when the main character turns on the radio. The interpolation was recorded by Yankovic's band. Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is a noted fan of Yankovic's work, but had previously denied permission for Yankovic to perform a Led Zeppelin polka medley on an album. The song was listed by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' as number seventy-seven in their Best Songs of 2006.

Origin and writing

Yankovic felt compelled to write this parody because he felt the original was "brilliant and wonderful and ridiculous all at the same time". Yankovic would normally have considered taking the original song and making lyrics that were "more bizarre than they already are", but the original R. Kelly song was already bizarre to start with, according to Yankovic. Instead, to contrast the original, "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" uses the very

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

tic structure of the original to tell an extremely banal tale of a couple's attempts to pick up their dinner one night, one of the most "banal and mundane" stories Yankovic could think of. Much like how the

original Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...

was divided into various chapters (as of now 33) Yankovic's is also divided, into 3 chapters, although they are not divided on the album itself. Yankovic had received R. Kelly's permission to parody the song, but due to its length, he was worried that he would have to pay 2-3 times the normal statutory rate for inclusion on the album, which would have potentially forced him to remove one or two songs from ''Straight Outta Lynwood''. However, R. Kelly allowed Yankovic to use the full song at the rate of a single song, allowing Yankovic to keep his album intact.

Music video

An animated music video was released on MySpace on March 19, 2007. The video is now on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

and has received over 29.9 million views as of December 2023. The video was created by Doug Bresler, creator of Doogtoons. It was the ninth music video produced for the album '' Straight Outta Lynwood''. The

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

was also featured as Channel Frederator's 100th episode. In June 2008, "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" received the award of Funniest Film of 2007 at the ''Channel Frederator Awards''.

References

External links

Music video for "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trapped In The Drive-Thru 2006 songs "Weird Al" Yankovic songs Songs with lyrics by "Weird Al" Yankovic Rap operas Trapped in the Closet Animated music videos American hip hop songs Songs written by R. Kelly Songs written by Jimmy Page Songs written by Robert Plant Songs written by John Paul Jones (musician)