Longtime parody songwriter, Cledus T. Judd, is still trying to wrap his mind around why Ella Langley’s label reached out and told him to take down his parody of “Be Her” titled “Meet Her.”
Just in case you aren’t familiar with the work of Cledus T. Judd, he’s basically the Weird Al of country music. He’s had massive success over the years with parody songs like his “I Love NASCAR” take on Toby Keith’s “I Love This Bar” and “(She’s Got a Butt) Bigger Than The Beatles,” a parody Joe Diffie’s “Bigger Than the Beatles.”
Throughout his career, he’s always approached his parodies in a respectful manner that ends up honoring the artist and their original song. That’s actually how he’s become friendly with some of the biggest names in country music, from Toby Keith and Shania Twain to Buck Owens and Ronnie Dunn. Artists like them heard Cledus T. Judd’s takes on their songs, and got a kick out of them.
And fans do as well… Judd has sold millions of copies across his three decades of parody writing.
But with his latest entrant, “Meet Her,” which was his take on Ella’s “Be Her,” he ran into a bit of a problem. The parody that he created that basically just explores the fact that he’d love to meet Ella Langley was requested to be taken down. Langley’s label reached out and said that the longtime parody maker needed to remove his new track off all platforms, as Judd explained in a social media post last week:
“I’ve been doing these parodies and trying to make a living and a career out of doing them for the past 30 years, and it’s been an absolute wonderful journey doing them. I don’t know how many I’ve done. Everybody from Shania Twain, Garth Brooks, Joe Diffie, Wynonna, Trace, Rascal Flatts, Toby. I mean, the list goes on and on and on.
And never in my 30 years, I don’t think I’ve ever had somebody not comment or say, ‘Great job,’ or ‘That sucks,’ or whatever the case may be. But I got a letter this week … from Sony Music New York that said, ‘Hey, take the Ella tribute video down off your social medias, off the platforms everywhere. Get it down.’”
If you are to listen to the song, there’s really nothing offensive about it. And to make matters even more interesting, Cledus T. Judd used to be signed with Sony, and he said that made the take down request that much more surprising.
Now, after mulling over everything this past weekend, Cledus T. Judd took to social media to offer up some final remarks on taking down “Meet Her.” He first thanked the millions of people out there for the support that they’ve given him and the song since it was released – and then asked to be removed from streaming.
He’s obliging to the request because he wants to be the good guy, and maintains that he’s always tried to make parody songs that are respectful, and has a ton of respect for Ella Langley and the run she’s on right now:
“This whole video and song started because my wife asked me who I’d like to meet that I never have met, and I said Ella Langley. I think she’s brilliant. I think she’s great for our industry. It’s huge what she’s doing right now…
I guess Ella doesn’t care nothing about meeting me, which is fine. I would like to know what about the song and video didn’t she like? What made her think, ‘Oh this is really gonna affect my career, this has-been comedian doing this parody of ‘Be Her’ and that he needs to take it down.'”
It’s a fair point by Cledus… I don’t think “Meet Her” would have actually hurt her in any way. In fact, parodies can often help bring eyes to the original songs they are based on.
However, I’d suspect that it actually has nothing to do with Ella herself, and I’d be surprised if she had anything to do with the decision at all. Most of these decisions come from labels and publishers… and sometimes, the artist is completely unaware of what goes on with the business side of things. Hell, some don’t even know which city they’ll be in next weekend. In our own personal experience with dealing with labels, publishers, PR, etc… here at Whiskey Riff, everyone approaches things differently. Some are hyper-sensitive and some don’t care much about anything… all of that to say, I wouldn’t take is as something personal coming from Ella.
The parody writer also says that having to remove this one especially hurts because his daughter helped him out with the corresponding music video, and now she believes she played a role in the label moving to have it taken down:
“Here’s the part that bothered me more than flipping any other. This video is the first video that my daughter has ever shot. She’s a singer by trade and she loves the arts and she loves video and she wanted to shoot this video…
She wanted it to be great, and now she’s called me 50 times saying, ‘Dad I’m sorry, I know she didn’t like the video.’ No, that ain’t it. I don’t know what it is. I’m at a loss for words.”
Cledus T. Judd says his wife helped write the song as well, so it was a real family affair… and now his family feels like they let him down. He’s assured them that’s not the case. Judd really has no idea why Sony requested its removal, and the songwriter is now taking down the No. 1 comedy song in America… and moving on to the next one:
“I will tell you this. I’ve never took down anything in my life that was a No. 1 comedy song in America and the No. 1 comedy video in America, as it is today, thanks to all of you. And it gives me the encouragement to go on to the next one.”
@cledustjudd My last comments on this. Hopefully anyway. Just feel bad for my daughter! Watch and you’ll see why. #fyp ♬ original sound – CledusTJudd
