"The Saga Begins" is a parody song by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It parodies "American Pie" by Don McLean, with lyrics that humorously summarize the plot of the film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace through the point of view of Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the film's protagonists.

The song's title, not mentioned in the lyrics, derives from a tagline that appeared in teaser trailers and the film poster for The Phantom Menace: "Every saga has a beginning". "The Saga Begins" was released as a single from the 1999 album Running with Scissors, and later appearing on the compilation album The Saga Begins.

History

Set to the tune of Don McLean's "American Pie", "The Saga Begins" recounts the plot of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, from Obi-Wan Kenobi's point of view. Yankovic gathered most of the information he needed to write the song from internet spoilers. Lucasfilm declined a request for an advance screening, and Yankovic paid to attend a charity fundraiser pre-screening. According to Yankovic's website, Lucasfilm's official response to the song was, "You should've seen the smile on George Lucas's face."

Day one was when they filmed the desert scenes. The desert scenes were filmed in the Mojave Desert outside Baker, California. Temperatures reached 120 °F (49 °C) and several crew members passed out from heat exhaustion. Several scenes could only be filmed in one take, as there would be footprints in the sand for a second take. To film the final scene, they did not have time to use a camera dolly, so they got the shot by strapping Yankovic to a crane and spinning him around in the air.

Response from Don McLean

McLean gave Yankovic permission to release the parody, although he did not make a cameo appearance in its music video, despite popular rumor. McLean himself praised the parody, even admitting to almost singing Yankovic's lyrics during his own live performances because his children played the song so often.

  • "Weird Al" Yankovic – lead & background vocals
  • Jim West – guitars
  • Steve Jay – bass guitar
  • Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz – drums, tambourine
  • Rubén Valtierra – keyboards

Charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

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! Chart (2010)

! Peak<br />position

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! scope="row"| US Comedy Digital Tracks (Billboard)

| align="center"| 20

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References

  • "Weird Al" Yankovic – The Saga Begins – official music video on YouTube

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