Style Parodies on Poodle Hat

minnick27 · Post by **minnick27** » Wed May 21, 2003 12:51 am

QUOTE

Genius in France is clearly Zappa. I have a question for the Zappa fans -- how many direct references to Zappa songs are in GIF? Sounds like dozens.

El

Well the whole song is a giant reference, and not just because it is a style parody. I think Al took more time on this song than on others because it is so dead on. Every verse takes something from another Zappa song or album. My favorite is the frog souding effect from Lumpy Gravy that pops up. But there is nothing that makes me say "Hey, that is about Zappa" The song maks me say "Hey, thats Zappa"

Mike

MarlinsGirl · Post by **MarlinsGirl** » Wed May 21, 2003 1:22 am

when i listened to Genius in France the first time I thought I was listening to Frank Zappa. Al definetly did his homework on that song

tempforte · Post by **tempforte** » Wed May 21, 2003 1:42 am

"Wanna B Ur Lovr" is almost definitely a style parody of Beck's "Midnite Vultures" album. I realize that's already been posted twice, but now we only need one more person to agree to win the best-of-seven series.

The more I hear 'Wanna B Ur Lovr', the more it reminds me of 'Peaches & Cream' (just compare the "Girl you must be Jamaican / Because Jamaican me crazy" bit with the "Keep your lamplight trimmed and burning" bit from P&C). But, as I've mentioned before, Midnite Vultures is popularly thought of as Beck's "Prince album". Also, the fact that Prince has a penchant for "I want 2 B with U 4evr"-style titles, and indeed has a very similarly-named song*, leads me to believe that 'Wanna B Ur Lovr' is probably more likely to be a Prince style parody.

Perhaps it's a parody of Prince and Beck simultaneously -- a "parallelody", to use a term coined by a friend of mine?

*Although I don't believe that Al would purposely take such a title and make it less ridiculous than it was originally!

OneNote · Post by **OneNote** » Wed May 21, 2003 2:20 am

"Wanna B Ur Lovr" is almost definitely a style parody of Beck's "Midnite Vultures" album. I realize that's already been posted twice, but now we only need one more person to agree to win the best-of-seven series.
The more I hear 'Wanna B Ur Lovr', the more it reminds me of 'Peaches & Cream' (just compare the "Girl you must be Jamaican / Because Jamaican me crazy" bit with the "Keep your lamplight trimmed and burning" bit from P&C). But, as I've mentioned before, Midnite Vultures is popularly thought of as Beck's "Prince album". Also, the fact that Prince has a penchant for "I want 2 B with U 4evr"-style titles, and indeed has a very similarly-named song*, leads me to believe that 'Wanna B Ur Lovr' is probably more likely to be a Prince style parody.

Perhaps it's a parody of Prince and Beck simultaneously -- a "parallelody", to use a term coined by a friend of mine?

*Although I don't believe that Al would purposely take such a title and make it less ridiculous than it was originally!

No, I'm thinking it's Beck. Prince never used a trumpet. Also, the multitude of sound effects is more Beck than Prince.

Post by **Shelley** » Wed May 21, 2003 3:23 am

No, I'm thinking it's Beck. Prince never used a trumpet. Also, the multitude of sound effects is more Beck than Prince.

Perhaps, I don't listen to that much Beck, but at one point in the song there is a little breath-hitch sound that is TOTALLY Prince.

-Shelley

jerrymustbeslaughtered · Wed May 21, 2003 3:57 am

Genius in France is clearly Zappa. I have a question for the Zappa fans -- how many direct references to Zappa songs are in GIF? Sounds like dozens.

I couldn't remember what some of them were, but Inca Roads (Poodle... Poodle compared to Park it... Park it...), some of the guitar riffs sounded like St. Alphonzo's Pancake Breakfast, "Great Googily Moogily is from Nanook Rubs it, the first few verses sound like San Ber'dino, the fourth verse sounds like the doo-wop styles from the Ruben and the Jets album, and jesus, I had no idea that dweezil could play that closely to his father... I'm sure there are more, but I couldn't find any at the moment. Because of both the lyrics and the musical styles, this is the best song on the album, I think.

Phillipemoz · Post by **Phillipemoz** » Wed May 21, 2003 7:23 am

First off, the guitar intro to Genius in France sounded EXACTLY like the intro to Frank Zappa's song "Im the Slime." (which is also about TV, like the first track of Poodle Hat) If you listened to Dr. Demento's show this past Sunday, you would have heard Frank Zappa's "I'm the Slime" right before he played Couch Potato! ( you can look at the playlist on Dr. Demento's website, it lists "I'm the Slime" as being by "The Mothers", which was the name of Zappa's band.)

Dweezil Zappa is the one who did the guitar solo intro, and he replicated his Father's style PERFECTLY.

Poodles- It wasn't until I heard Genius in France that I got the connection. Zappa mentioned poodles more than once in his songs, and there was even a philosophical book written about zappa that said something about poodles in the title.

Genius in France- In France was a Zappa song, originally off Them or Us and also on the one of Zappa's many cheezy collections named "Have I Offended Someone" (his funniest offensive songs). One online reviewer said this was the worst song on that album, but he was probably French. I thought it was funny.

However, I was a little dissappointed that Al was hopping on the bandwagon of "let's make fun of the French and rename everything that is named after them stupidity.' Then I remembered that Weird Al wrote the originals a while ago, which was probably before making fun of French people became really popular. I think he was ahead of the curve, that the inspiration for this song was merely zappa and not political. At least I hope so. I am totally for making fun of the French, as long as there is no political reason behind it, and it is not mean-spirited.

okay, let me take a breath

Phillipemoz · Post by **Phillipemoz** » Wed May 21, 2003 7:30 am

I think it would be very interesting to find out if Genius in France was written before French bashing became our patriotic duty, since some will undoubtety accuse Al of just doing it because it is popular.

But let's not let this degenerate into a political discussion. I like what Weird Al said in the chat when some one asked him "Are you a Republicac "(he probably meant Republican)

Weird Al said "I don't give out my species like that."

Wed May 21, 2003 7:38 am

Perhaps it's a parody of Prince and Beck simultaneously -- a "parallelody", to use a term coined by a friend of mine?

You win! It is indeed a parody of both of them simultaneously; Al said so on KABC last night. Here's your twinkie-wiener sandwich. <(_____)>

BathTub · Post by **BathTub** » Wed May 21, 2003 11:02 am

well thats just pretty damn cool then.

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