(andPOP) - The only way Weird Al Yankovic could
properly write a song about being a couch potato was to actually become one. "Couch Potato," from his new album, "Poodle Hat," contains lyrics that only people sitting in front of their television for hours at length would be able to write.
"I do research for each of my songs," Yankovic tells andPOP. "If I'm writing a song about TV, I'll spend a lot of time watching TV. I'll study TV Guide, I'll look at articles about television, and I'll try to make sure I'm giving every show its fair do. I can also spend all day watching TV and convince myself that I'm working, because I'm doing research."
Eminem gave his blessings for Yankovic to use the beat from "Lose Yourself" for "Couch Potato," but did not allow him to make a music video for the song. Eminem thought that making a video would detract from what he thinks could be a strong legacy for his Oscar-winning song.
"I'm disappointed certainly. It was going to be an amazing video," Yankovic says. "We were in pre-production and we were all set to go and now there's not going to be a video for the new album, which we're all very disappointed with. I have to respect [Eminem's] decision to not allow me to do a video."
Don't let his television-watching "research" for "Couch Potato" fool you. Yankovic is legitimately a hard and effective worker. While most artists these days record dozens of songs for one album, and then spend more time narrowing them down, Yankovic doesn't start writing lyrics until he's certain which songs will be included.
"I'm very conservative with my song writing. I maybe have a lot more ideas, but I narrow down the ideas to the 12 that I think would be really good and I focus all my energy just on those 12 songs. I hate to waste time."
Somewhat of a tradition is to deliver a medley of popular songs in true polka fashion with his accordion. "Angry White Boy Polka" features covers of songs by such artists as Rage Against the Machine, Limp Bizkit, The Vines, The White Stripes, and Kid Rock.
"It is a reflection on what songs I think would sound most ridiculous done as a polka," he says. "And for the new album, it reflected a genre of music that I thought probably would benefit from getting a polka treatment."
It takes Yankovic a fair amount of time to conjure up the lyrics to his songs. "The lyrics don?t come just come freely from me. I'm not free-styling. I'm not that great at improv. If you give me a couple weeks and a pad of paper, I'll be able to come up with something funny."
His lyrics are so thoughtfully orchestrated, that it makes Yankovic appear to be an expert on each topic that he sings about. This is evident especially in "eBay," sung to the tune of the Backstreet Boys' "I Want it That Way," with lyrics like "Just check my feedback, 'A++' they all say," and "I am the type that is liable to snipe you with two seconds left to go."
"I have bought several things off eBay," he confesses, including out of print books and video tapes of television shows. "I haven?t sold anything on eBay yet. It's a great place to buy things that you can't find anywhere else. It really is a worldwide garage sale. Some piece of junk that some guy half way across the world is trying to get rid of is exactly what you're looking for. It's one of the greatest uses of the internet ever."
Joey Fatone of 'N Sync has said he plans on recording an album with parodies. Yankovic is not worried and welcomes more people to do what he has been doing for over 20 years.
"I think there's enough room in the world for somebody else to be doing comedy music," Yankovic says. "There's just not enough comedy on the radio these days. I wish him the best of luck. Joey's a nice guy. He actually came to one of my shows when I played in Orlando, Florida, a couple years ago."
Could Fatone overtake Yankovic's title as the King of Parody? Yankovic shows no signs of slowing down.
"I like to think that I'm good at what I do. Nothing's forever. Rock careers in general don?t tend to last that long so I'm lucky to have lasted this long so well have to wait and see what happens."
The wait for another album won't be as long as the four years it took him to release "Poodle Hat," he says.
"This last time out, I was renegotiating my record deal and that took about thee years. I wanted to take a little break after 'Running with Scissors' because I toured for about a year and a half on that and it was pretty exhausting. After that, I got married, had a kid, and bought a house."
He also made a cameo appearance on The Simpsons during his break, one of his favourite shows and one he's been watching since it first started.
"That?s one of the high points in my career. It was just an amazing thrill to be able to actually be on the show and to be sitting in a recording studio next to Homer Simpson."
Yankovic will tour in support of the album starting tomorrow in Del Mar, California.
"It's a live, two-hour, high energy, rock and roll concert with the same band that I've had since the very beginning. It's a rocking comedy multimedia extravaganza. We're bringing in some other tunes from my oeuvre that haven't been played before."
And for all his fans who plan on going to a show, Weird Al has some advice for you. "Try to floss at least once a day because dental hygiene is very important."
