Poodle Hat
Album by "Weird Al" Yankovic
Released	May 20, 2003
Recorded	???
Genre	Comedy
Length	54 min 38 sec
Record label	Volcano
Producer	"Weird Al" Yankovic
Professional reviews
AMG	2/5	link
"Weird Al" Yankovic Chronology
Running with Scissors (1999)	Poodle Hat (2003)	—

Poodle Hat 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 Al, such as "Hardware Store", and a polka medley. As is typical, Al 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?").

Track listing

1. "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 Weird Al not make a music video for the song, which Al honored leaving the label baffled on deciding what song to push which fans blame for the poor album sales on)
2. "Hardware Store" (Yankovic) - 3:44
   • Song about a newly-opened hardware goods store in a slow town
3. "Trash Day" (Chuck Brown, Comell Haynes, Pharrell Williams) - 3:12
   • parody of "Hot in Herre" by Nelly about a very messy apartment
4. "Party at the Leper Colony" (Yankovic) - 3:38
   • song composed with wordplay on many anatomical idioms
5. "Angry White Boy Polka" - 5:04
   • polka medley of then-current pop music
6. "Wanna B Ur Lover" (Yankovic) - 6:14
   • song composed mostly of excessively bad pick-up lines
7. "A Complicated Song" (Scott Alspach, Lauren Christy, Graham Edwards, Avril Lavigne) - 3:40
   • parody of "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne, taking three different rhymes for "complicated" and basing verses upon them
8. "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.
9. "Ode to a Superhero" (Billy Joel) - 4:53
   • parody of "Piano Man" by Billy Joel, recaps the events of the movie Spider-Man.
10. "Bob" (Yankovic) - 2:29
    • style parody of Bob Dylan composed entirely of palindromes
11. "eBay" (Andreas Carlsson, Max Martin) - 3:36
    • parody of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys about a frequent visitor to the popular auction site
12. "Genius in France" (Yankovic) - 8:58
    • style parody of Frank Zappa; possible life story of Jerry Lewis

Personnel

• "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
• Ruben Valtierra - piano, keyboards
• Julia Waters - vocals, background vocals
• Maxine Waters - background vocals
• Jim West - guitar, mandolin, sound effects, vocals, clapping, shouts
• Dweezil Zappa - guitar

Production

• 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

Charts

Album

Awards

Grammy Awards