Amish Paradise - Music Video

Music Video

The director of the music video for “Amish Paradise” was “Weird Al” himself. “Weird Al” has directed many of his music videos since 1986.

The music video for "Amish Paradise" is very similar to the "Gangsta's Paradise" music video, although several concepts have been parodied. These include:

• When Yankovic states that Amish shun electricity, several Amish stomp on electronic devices, such as CDs, floppy disks, laptops and a Slim Whitman LP album.
• When Yankovic says he is up at 4:30 in the morning milking cows, he is shown milking a cow directly into a bowl of cereal instead of a milk pail. A box of corn flakes can be seen next to him. The Kellogg's brand name is covered.
• In the next scene, when Jebediah is "feeding the chickens" he is giving them pizza.
• The line "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1699," is a parody of Prince's "1999". Prince has consistently refused to let Weird Al record parodies of his songs.
• When Al is churning butter, a woman walks by, and he is seen churning faster in an arguably suggestive manner.
• When the man is sawing and checking his sundial watch, the man behind him is playing golf (the follow-through of which resembles the use of a scythe).
• When Al says "We sell quilts at discount price," a wooden booth is shown selling quilts, with a sign that says 'OUR PRICES ART INSANE!!!' in Old English parody of 'Crazy Eddie' advertisements.
• At one point Al is seen reading a fake Lancaster, PA newspaper, with the headline "Much Butter Was Churned". This is a homage to the film Witness, which takes place in Lancaster County, home to perhaps the most well-known Amish communities.
• In one part, two boys are looking at a supposed Amish porn magazine (the cover slogan says "Plow My Field!"), but in the centerfold all the woman is showing is her shin, insinuating that this is considered to be scandalous among the Amish.
• When the young Amish children are on Yankovic's knee, they each have a beard, even though they appear to be about 6 years old.
• Al's face is seen, with him sweating more every time a close up is taken to mock how L.V. is sweating profusely in Coolio's video.
• When Yankovic states he's "scoring points for the afterlife," he takes off his hat to reveal a hairstyle very similar to that seen on the cover of his album Bad Hair Day. These are both parodies of Coolio's trademark hairstyle.
• On the back of the carriage just before the sign reading, "Welcome to Lancaster," there's a "bumper" sticker stating, "How am I driving?" Other signs are seen saying among other things "BE GOOD".
• The man in white shirt and glasses attempting to use the vintage telephone (and in turn being coated with dust) is fashioned after a photograph of 1960s comedian Allan Sherman.
• The lyrics "No phone, no lights, no motorcar - not a single luxury... like Robinson Crusoe, it's primitive as can be" are originally from the closing theme song to Gilligan's Island.
• Near the very end, Yankovic is shown walking away from a barn while everything around him moves backwards in a rewinding fashion; for this effect, the scene was recorded normally while Weird Al lip syncs the words backwards, so when the scene is shown backwards, his lips sync with the song itself. The inspiration for this scene was the video for the rap group Pharcyde's Drop, which was filmed in the same manner, and the backwards scene performed in the movie, "Top Secret!"
• The video features Florence Henderson in the role originally portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer. Reportedly, Henderson jumped at the chance to be featured in the parody, after seeing the Coolio video.
• Al's parents Nick and Mary Yankovic are featured in the music video.
• The video shows many aspects of regular Amish life, such as raising a barn (the scene directly parodies Witness). However, when the barn is raised, the frame falls towards Yankovic, who is standing where a gap in the frame is. He has acknowledged that this gag is a Buster Keaton homage. Keaton performed this stunt in Steamboat Bill Jr.