Another One Rides the Bus (EP)

Recording

The EP features the titular parody, as well as three original comedy songs, with music written by Yankovic. In April 1980, Yankovic recorded the first song for the album, "Gotta Boogie". The song, co-written by Joe Earley, is a play on words discussing a man with a "boogie" on his finger and his quandary therein. The second song to be recorded for the EP was "Another One Rides the Bus", on September 14, 1980. Yankovic wrote the song, a parody of Queen's hit "Another One Bites the Dust", and debuted it live on the Dr. Demento Show, hosted by Barret "Dr. Demento" Hansen. While practicing the song outside the sound booth, Yankovic met Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz who told Yankovic he was a drummer. Schwartz agreed to drum on Yankovic's accordion case to keep a steady beat to the song. "Another One Rides the Bus" became so popular that it landed Yankovic a short-lived record deal with TK Records, and also led to his first appearance on a TV show, The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder. On the show, Yankovic played his accordion and Schwartz banged on Yankovic's accordion case and played the bulb horns.

In January 1981, the song "Mr. Frump in the Iron Long" was recorded. The song, an audience favorite from Yankovic's days playing in coffeehouses at Cal Poly, describes the rather lopsided relationship between the narrator and the eponymous "Mr. Frump" in his iron lung, until the latter's death. The final song, recorded on January 19, 1981, was "Happy Birthday". A morbidly depressing birthday song detailing ails of the world, including poverty, nuclear holocaust, and eventual solar cataclysm, the song is based on the music of artist Tonio K. Only seeing two popular birthday songs at the time—"Happy Birthday to You" by Patty and Mildred J. Hill, and "Birthday" by The Beatles—Yankovic decided to write his own "severely twisted version of one". "Happy Birthday' was recorded in the garage of Richard "Bopcat" Bennett, the brother of Schwartz who would go on to be a noted Nashville studio musician and record producer. All of the tracks, sans "Another One Rides the Bus" were recorded on a 4-track Portastudio; because only four tracks were available for mixing and recording, Yankovic had to carefully plan which parts of the songs he wanted to record at a time, and then mix them down before adding more song elements.

The EP's version of "Happy Birthday" is included on the Permanent Record: Al in the Box box set, and was remixed into stereo for the Hurricane Katrina charity album Laughter Is a Powerful Weapon Volume II. "Gotta Boogie", "Happy Birthday", and "Mr. Frump in the Iron Long" would be re-recorded for Yankovic's eponymous debut studio album, while "Another One Rides the Bus" would not.

Release

Yankovic desired to release the song on a record label, although no label wanted to sign him at the time. Thus, Yankovic borrowed some money from Dr. Demento and pressed up one thousand copies of the four-track EP by himself. Yankovic then distributed the EP to various record stores, selling them through consignment deals. Yankovic released the record under Placebo Records, a one-off label founded by Yankovic for the sole purpose of distributing the EPs. Due to the underground success of the record, Yankovic was eventually able to secure a short-lived record deal with TK Records, who released the title song as a single. Due to the fact that only one thousand copies of the Another One Rides the Bus EP were made, today it is considered a very rare record to locate.

Track listing

The following is adapted from the album liner notes.