Maps of Music

Peter & the Wolf / Carnival of the Animals, Part II (1988)

Where the lyrics of Peter & the Wolf / Carnival of the Animals, Part II take you, and where it was really made.

This is Weird Al Yankovic's sixth studio album, yet it is left out of his main discography, and the UHF soundtrack is counted as his official sixth.

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Peter & the Wolf / Carnival of the Animals – Part II: studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic and composer Wendy Carlos
Released October 1988 on CBS Records
Comical adaptation of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and Saint-Saëns' The Carnival of the Animals
Italian Wikipedia's track list gives 16 tracks, including introductions and the Finale
CD separates the parts of side 2; the LP and cassette each have one continuous track per side

CBS Records invited Wendy Carlos to work on the project with Yankovic
Carlos wrote new music for both stories
Carlos greatly enjoyed the collaboration as a chance for musical fun with a witty partner
Peter and the Wolf part: the animals are named Billy the Bird, Bruce the Duck, Louie the Cat and Seymour the Wolf
New minor character Bob the Janitor, represented musically by the accordion, Yankovic's signature instrument
Carnival part: a parody that fills gaps Saint-Saëns left in the animal kingdom with new verses
Carlos's earlier work: in 1968 she used a Moog synthesizer to reproduce Bach's Brandenburg Concertos electronically

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (born October 23, 1959) is an American musician known for comedy songs that often parody other musicians' songs.
He also performs original songs in the style of other acts and polka medleys of popular songs, usually featuring his accordion.
His first on-air exposure came in 1976, when a comedy song he made was played on The Dr. Demento Radio Show at age 16.
He has sold more than 12 million albums (as of 2025), recorded more than 150 parodies and original songs, and performed more than 2,000 live shows.
He has won five Grammy Awards and earned eleven further nominations.
His first top ten Billboard album (Straight Outta Lynwood) and single ("White & Nerdy") were both released in 2006.
His album Mandatory Fun (2014) became his first number-one album in its debut week.
He wrote and starred in the film UHF (1989) and the television series The Weird Al Show (1997).
He has produced two satirical films about his own life: The Compleat Al (1985) and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022).
He has not released a full album since Mandatory Fun and mainly releases singles.

The Grammy nomination is the only critical recognition in the record of this album, so reception is best judged by its later availability
Like most of Wendy Carlos's discography, the album has not been licensed for streaming services
The CD, LP and cassette releases are all out of print and have become collector's items
Copies reportedly change hands at very high prices on both Amazon and eBay
The album remains outside the standard catalogue, which keeps it hard to hear for most listeners

The Italian Wikipedia entry splits the album into two parts: a Peter and the Wolf parody first, then a Carnival of the Animals parody.
In the Peter and the Wolf retelling, the wolf is finally caught by Peter using dental floss, and the story closes with a dental-care lesson.
Carlos's track list includes sections named for animals such as Aardvark, Hummingbirds and Cockroachers, following the Saint-Saëns structure.
Carlos had already gained wide attention in 1968 when her Moog-based Bach recordings showed synthesizers as real musical instruments.