You're Pitiful

2006 song performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic
the Fiestar song

"You're Pitiful" is a parody of the James Blunt song "You're Beautiful" written and recorded by American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic. It was released exclusively online on June 7, 2006. In it, Yankovic chides a 42 year old man who lives a pitiful existence. It was originally intended as the lead single of his twelfth studio album, Straight Outta Lynwood. While Blunt had no issues with Yankovic recording the parody, his label, Atlantic Records, forbade a commercial release. In a later music video and live performances, Yankovic referred unflatteringly to Atlantic. He occasionally and unsuccessfully asks to include the song on compilations.

According to music critic Nathan Rabin, "You're Pitiful" functions as "an amusing character study of the contemporary loser." In the song, Yankovic chides a 42 year old man who still lives a "pitiful" existence. The man is described in the lyrics as living with his mother and having a job at a convenience store working the Slurpee machine. His hobbies include playing Halo 2 and dabbling in amateur Star Trek cosplay.

In early 2006, Yankovic began recording parody songs for his upcoming album Straight Outta Lynwood. Yankovic initially approached James Blunt and asked if he could record a parody of his hit song "You're Beautiful". Blunt was receptive of the parody idea, and gave Yankovic permission; on April 12, 2006, Yankovic began recording the song. Atlantic records feared that, "it was 'too early' in James' career for a parody, and that focusing any more attention on 'Beautiful' at that point might lead to the perception of James as a 'one hit wonder.'" As such, Yankovic and his record label postponed the album's release date and cancelled their upcoming tour. Finally, months later, Yankovic got a response from Atlantic: "The 'right' time, apparently, was 'never'." Still needing a lead parody for his album, Yankovic recorded "White & Nerdy" (a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'"). This single would go on to be Yankovic's most popular song, and his first top 10 Billboard hit. which had been submitted to the fansite Al oholics Anonymous as part of a calendar contest. The image was later used on Yankovic's official MySpace page, and has since become the de facto cover art for the single.

The music video for Straight Outta Lynwood second single, "White & Nerdy," depicts Yankovic taking revenge, of sorts, against Atlantic Records by vandalizing their English Wikipedia article by blanking all text and replacing it with the words "YOU SUCK!" in large letters. This particular revenge has since actually been repeatedly performed by online vandals. Yankovic has said that he does not approve of the vandalism, although he admits being amused by it. In addition, the video also shows Yankovic viewing his MySpace page and for a split second, "You're Pitiful" is visible as his profile song. In 2009, while compiling the track listing for his then upcoming greatest hits album The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic, Blunt and his company were once again approached by Yankovic, now asking they allow the long shelved parody be released on the compilation record. The request was denied, and Yankovic later tweeted: "In case you were hoping for 'You're Pitiful' to be included on my Essentials collection, sorry, this just in from Blunt's manager: 'Thanks for your email, but both James and I will never approve this parody to be released on any label. In mid 2016, while preparing to release his career spanning box set Squeeze Box, Yankovic once again reached out to Blunt to see if in the seven years he had changed his mind. Once again, he was denied, tweeting: "Sadly, [James Blunt] won't let me include 'You're Pitiful' on my box set."

Nathan Rabin wrote that the parody was amusing but that "it was nowhere near as strong as the geek anthem [i. e. 'White & Nerdy'] that would become the first single off [of] 2006's Straight Outta Lynwood".</blockquote>