Why do I keep finding songs that say they are "Weird Al" Yankovic but really are not?

Question

I found these songs on the net which claimed to be by "Weird Al" Yankovic but aren't acctually listed under his songs and I can't find them on any cds:

< Barney's On Fire >
< Star Wars Gansta Rap >
< Beer Song >

Why is this?

Answer 1

My personal opinion is that if you are as talented as Al (in this regard), every Tom, Dick, and Harry who thinks they can make a parody will get their song credited to Al.

From Wikipedia: Songs posted to file sharing networks are often misattributed to him due to their humorous subject matter. Oftentimes, his surname is misspelled (and thus mispronounced) as "Yankovich", amongst other variations. Much to the disdain of Yankovic, these misattributed files include songs that are racist, sexually explicit, or otherwise offensive. A young listener who had heard several of these offensive tracks by way of a file sharing service confronted Yankovic online, threatening a boycott due to his supposedly explicit lyrics. Quite a few of the songs, such as "Star Wars Cantina" by Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine, "Star Wars Gangsta Rap," "Yoda Smokes Weed," "Chewbacca" and several more have a Star Wars motif.

Yankovic cites these misattributions as "his real beef with P2P sites":

"If you do a search for my name on any one of those sites, I guarantee you that about half of the songs that come up will be songs I had absolutely nothing to do with. That particularly bothers me, because I really try to do quality work, and I also try to maintain a more-or-less family-friendly image—and some of these songs that are supposedly by me are just, well, vulgar and awful. I truly think my reputation has suffered in a lot of people's minds because of all those fake Weird Al songs floating around the Internet."

A list of songs not by Yankovic can be found at The Not Al List.

http://free.house.cx/~eil/etc/notal_list.html
http://www.barglenawdlezouss.com/lyricsaz.htm

As you can see by both lists, "Barney's On Fire" is NOT an Al song

Answer 2

Weird Al Songs List

Answer 3

The beat is a similar of direction...the lyrics are much greater efficient and greater thought out...he sings greater efficient than Chamillionaire...and he even has a greater efficient call (Chamillionaire??? how stupid). a minimum of extraordinary Al had to surely positioned some thought into his lyrics, rap isn't something yet rubbish making a music and lyrics with super beats.

Answer 4

I recognize Barney's on Fire, and I know that he did it.
Perhaps he simply did a single, or it was from a test track that was never put on a CD. Some singers just do this. not very helpful to us, though, is it? Some download sites can snag 'em for you, though.

Answer 5

Maybe your listening to 'Weird Al Wankovic' and not Mr Jankovic -- just a thought, sorry.