I don't get how it was a joke, maybe because it was such a bit hit that it became kind of a trope? Anyway, this song was #1 the day I was born. Never cared too much about it, but that sax is iconic.
Yeah interesting about the sax being his interpretation of an older song.
Someone else commented that George Michael wanted to cover the song specifically to fix the saxophone and then he did and now it's like the most famous saxophone piece in any song ever.