Sometimes, amid the politics and natural disasters and war and risks to life, you have to sit back and laugh. The ISD Editorial Board would like you to take a moment and relax from the world and your pending cram sessions during Dead Week to enjoy a few laughs.

This particular laugh involves the work of the one and only, Weird Al Yankovic and the utterly strange Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga has the talent to make any of her appearances into a media spectacle of wonderment that sets people off in inspired and disgusted ways.

Her new hit, “Born This Way,” has been heralded as a coming-out anthem and an inspirational song for anyone daring to be different.

And who knows more about being an absolute oddball and making a spectacle of quirky antics than the maestro of madcap Weird Al?

That’s right folks, Weird Al will be parodying “Born This Way” with his song “Perform This Way,” inspired by Gaga’s red carpet entrances and media events.

But the interesting part of the story lies with Weird Al’s attempts to gain permission from the artist to record the song; a permission he does not need legally, but that he chooses to adhere to out of a personal code.

Initially he contacted Lady Gaga’s people and was asked to submit the song, which was not yet written or recorded. He then took time out of his busy schedule to write the song. He received a requirement from the Gaga camp that she needed to hear the song.

So, Weird Al went ahead and recorded the song. It was then rejected.

As such, he went ahead and posted the song online with a message at the end for people to make donations to the Human Rights Campaign, which he had intended to donate proceeds from the song to before.

Wednesday, after Weird Al had received Lady Gaga’s rejection, he received a confirmation that the song was OK to go from Gaga’s camp. Apparently Lady Gaga had never even been given the song to hear and knew nothing of it. It was Gaga’s manager that was rejecting it.

With any luck, that manager will get the boot.

Well, long story short — too late — Weird Al will proceed with his new album and the world will get to have another fun look at how silly things can be in the world despite the terror and tragedy from nation to nation.

With all of the loss in the world, it is a happy thought to know some simple, kind of dorky things such as the music of Weird Al are still finding their way to people’s ears and letting in a few laughs amid the difficulties.