The Saga Begins

"The Saga Begins" is a parody by "Weird Al" Yankovic of "American Pie" by Don McLean, released from the 1999 album Running with Scissors, and later appeared on the compilation album entitled The Saga Begins. The title derives from a tagline that appeared in teaser trailers and the film poster for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace: Every saga has a beginning. History Set to the tune of "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. He did such an accurate job that he was able to pronounce Coruscant correctly, and, even after an advance screening, he ended up making only very minor alterations. McLean not only approved the song but also has said since that his children have played it so much that he has a tendency to accidentally sing Yankovic's lyrics when performing "American Pie" in concert.[2] According to Yankovic's official website, George Lucas's reaction to first hearing the song was a "big, big smile." Fans have pointed out that there is an incongruence between the song and the events of the movie. In the song, the singer, who is intended to be Obi-Wan Kenobi, reports in detail the events of the initial encounter with Anakin Skywalker and the pod race. In the film, Obi Wan remained on their ship for the extent of these events and did not witness any of them. This is most likely due to the fact that the song was initially constructed from internet spoilers, and thus, Yankovic didn't have the clearest picture as to what would exactly happen.

[Intro] A long, long time ago In a galaxy far away Naboo was under an attack And I thought me and Qui-Gon Jinn Could talk the Federation into Maybe cutting them a little slack But their response, it didn't thrill us They locked the doors and tried to kill us We escaped from that gas Then met Jar Jar and Boss Nass We took a bongo from the scene And we went to Theed to see the Queen We all wound up on Tatooine That's where we found this boy... Oh [Chorus] My, my, this here Anakin guy May be Vader someday later, now he's just a small fry And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye Sayin', "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" [Verse 1] Did you know this junkyard slave Isn't even old enough to shave? But he can use the Force, they say Ah, do you see him hitting on the queen Though he's just nine and she's fourteen Yeah, he's probably gonna marry her someday Well, I know he built C-3PO And I've heard how fast his pod can go And we were broke, it's true So we made a wager or two He was a prepubescent flyin' ace And the minute Jabba started off that race Well, I knew who would win first place Oh yes, it was our boy We started singin' [Chorus] My, my, this here Anakin guy May be Vader someday later, now he's just a small fry And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye Sayin', "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" [Verse 2] Now we finally got to Coruscant The Jedi Council we knew would want To see how good the boy could be So we took him there and we told the tale How his midi-chlorians were off the scale And he might fulfill that prophecy Oh, the Council was impressed, of course Could he bring balance to the Force? They interviewed the kid Oh, training they forbid Because Yoda sensed in him much fear And Qui-Gon said "Now listen here Just stick it in your pointy ear I still will teach this boy" He was singin' [Chorus] My, my, this here Anakin guy May be Vader someday later, now he's just a small fry And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye Sayin', "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" [Bridge] We caught a ride back to Naboo Cause Queen Amidala wanted to I frankly would've liked to stay We all fought in that epic war And it wasn't long at all before Little hotshot flew his plane and saved the day And in the end, some Gunguns died Some ships blew up and some pilots fried A lot of folks were croakin' The battle droids were broken And the Jedi I admire most Met up with Darth Maul and now he's toast Well, I'm still here and he's a ghost I guess I'll train this boy And I was singin' [Chorus] My, my, this here Anakin guy May be Vader someday later, now he's just a small fry And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye Sayin', "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi" We were singin' [Chorus] My, my, this here Anakin guy May be Vader someday later, now he's just a small fry And he left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye Sayin', "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi"