Brad Roberts enjoyed the parody version, and Crash Test Dummies performed the song with Yankovic on multiple occasions.
In the first verse, a boy is injured in a car accident and misses school for an extended period; when he returns to class, his hair has changed color from black to bright white.
During a 2010 live performance for the Dutch radio station Kink FM, Roberts whispered "Pentecostal" during the third verse, suggesting this is the denomination of the church.
He got the idea of a boy's hair turning from black into bright white from stories he had heard about this phenomenon—Canities subita—happening to survivors of perilous experiences, including a man who almost went over the Niagara Falls, and his great uncle who fought in Pacific Theatre of World War II and heard Japanese soldiers yelling threats in broken English.
[6] An alternative version sometimes performed at live concerts replaced the third verse with one concerning a boy whose mother disposed of his tonsils after a tonsillectomy, thus depriving him of the possibility of bringing them to show and tell.
"[9] Robert Hilburn from Los Angeles Times wrote, "The exaggerated vocal narration makes this sound like a novelty, but it is a deceptively original work about how kids are often tormented for falling outside the norm.
"[12] Pan-European magazine Music & Media commented, "It takes one weirdo to dig another, so Dummy Brad Roberts and "Talking Head" Harrison make an ideal pair.
"[13] Terry Staunton from NME declared the song as "a real oddity, a melodic saunter through the weird Americana of John Irving or Garrison Keillor".
He added, "Canada's Crash Test Dummies present an ode to life's misfits, borrowing a musical trick or two from the quieter side of REM and the more melancholy Tom Waits.
It also reached number one on the Modern Rock Chart in the United States and in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden.