'' is the eleventh Album by song parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic , released in 2003 (see 2003 In Music ). It was his first Album in four years; his previous album was '' Running With Scissors '' ( 1999 ). Like his other albums, many of the album's songs are Parodies of popular songs of the time. The album also contains several original songs written by Yankovic, such as "Hardware Store", and a Polka medley. As is typical, Yankovic pokes fun at numerous areas of American Popular Culture , such as its fixation with Television ("Couch Potato") and seeming indifference to Violence ("Why Does This Always Happen To Me?").
#"Couch Potato" (Jeffrey Bass, Marshall Mathers , Luis Edgardo Resto) - 4:18
- parody of " Lose Yourself " by Eminem , about various TV shows (side note: Eminem permitted the parody but requested Yankovic not make a music video for the song, which he honored, leaving the label baffled on deciding what song to push, which, in turn, fans blame for the poor album sales)
#"Hardware Store" (Yankovic) - 3:44
- Song about a newly-opened hardware goods store in a slow town and the narrator's undue excitement about the event
#"Trash Day" (Chuck Brown, Cornell Haynes, Pharrell Williams ) - 3:12
- parody of " Hot In Herre " by Nelly about a very messy apartment
#"Party At The Leper Colony" (Yankovic) - 3:38
- song composed with wordplay on many Anatomical Idiom s
#"Angry White Boy Polka" - 5:04
- A Polka Medley of....
- ---"Last Resort" by Papa Roach ,
- ---" Chop Suey! " by System Of A Down ,
- ---"Get Free" by The Vines ,
- ---" Hate To Say I Told You So " by The Hives ,
- ---" Fell In Love With A Girl " by The White Stripes ,
- ---"Last Nite" by The Strokes ,
- ---"Down With The Sickness" by Disturbed ,
- ---"Renegades Of Funk" by Rage Against The Machine ,
- ---"My Way" by Limp Bizkit ,
- ---"Outside" by Staind ,
- ---"Bawitdaba" by Kid Rock ,
- ---"Youth Of The Nation" by P.O.D. ,
- ---" The Real Slim Shady " by Eminem , and
- ---"Poodle Hat Polka" by "Weird Al" Yankovic
--with new music by "Weird Al" Yankovic.
#"Wanna B Ur Lovr" (Yankovic) - 6:14
- song composed mostly of excessively bad (or just plain bizarre) pick-up lines
- the use of letters for words caused some to believe this may have been a style parody of Prince , but several fans maintain that the musical style is closer to some of Beck 's work.
- Partly similar to "Peaches And Cream" By Beck
#"A Complicated Song" (Scott Alspach, Lauren Christy, Graham Edwards, Avril Lavigne ) - 3:40
- parody of " Complicated " by Avril Lavigne , about a person who gets constipated after a pizza party, goes out with a girl who turns out to be related to him, and gets decapitated during a rollercoaster ride. In interviews, Yankovic said that he had three incomplete parodies of this song, and was unsure of which one to finish, so he just used all three partial parodies instead, one per verse.
#"Why Does This Always Happen To Me?" (Yankovic) - 4:52
- About a guy who complains about minor inconveniences in the midst of major tragedies; for example, complaining about a breaking news report on a "devastating Earthquake in Peru " because it interrupts an episode of '' The Simpsons ''. It is a style parody of Ben Folds who plays piano on this song.
#"Ode To A Superhero" ( Billy Joel ) - 4:53
- parody of "Piano Man" by Billy Joel, recaps the events of the movie '' Spider-Man ''. Yankovic cleverly parodies Billy Joel's singing style, down to the small details such as his distinctive New York Accent .
#" Bob " (Yankovic) - 2:29
- parody of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys about a frequent visitor to the popular auction site
#"Genius In France" (Yankovic) - 8:58
- style parody of the late Frank Zappa , and features Zappa's son Dweezil on guitar.
- a song about someone who is a moron, yet is considered a "Genius in France", which is sending up Jerry Lewis. It also references Zappa, who had a song called "In France".
The CD comes with an Enhanced CD portion which depicts some of Al's real home videos with him giving a commentary. In the beginning of this section, Al thanks us for buying his album and not downloading it like some "hooligan". The enhanced portion also contains synchronized lyrics and instrumental and acoustic versions of some songs.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic - Accordion , Keyboards , sound effects, Vocals , background vocals, clapping, shouts
- William K. Anderson - Harmonica
- Kim Bullard - keyboards
- DJ Swamp - scratching
- Tom Evans - Saxophone
- Ben Folds - Piano on "Why Does This Always Happen To Me?"
- Steve Jay - Banjo , Bass , sound effects, vocals, clapping, shouts
- Tommy Johnson - Tuba
- John "Juke" Logan - harmonica
- Warren Luening - Trumpet
- Herb Pedersen - banjo
- Joel Peskin - Clarinet
- Lisa Popeil - background vocals
- Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz - Percussion , Drums , sound effects, vocals, clapping, shouts, laughs
- Lee R. Thomburg - Trombone , trumpet
- Carmen Twilley - background vocals
- Rubén Valtierra - Piano , keyboards
- Julia Waters - vocals, background vocals
- Maxine Waters - background vocals
- Jim West - guitar, Mandolin , sound effects, vocals, clapping, shouts
- Dweezil Zappa - opening Guitar Solo on "Genius in France"
- Bela (Yankovic's pet Poodle, also featured on the album cover) - Barking noises featured in "Genius in France"
- Producer: "Weird Al" Yankovic
- Engineers: Tony Papa, Rafael Serrano
- Assistant engineers: Aaron Kaplan, Doug Sanderson, Antony Zeller
- Mixing: Tony Papa
- Mastering: Bernie Grundman
- Arranger: "Weird Al" Yankovic
- Drum programming: Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz
- Design: Nick Gamma, Jackie Murphy
- Photography: Mark Seliger
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