Donkey Pot Pie Lyrics - Shrek

Song Overview

“Donkey Pot Pie” is the Broadway-original Dragon number on the Shrek: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) - the bit where Donkey blunders into the tower, meets a fire-breathing diva, and tries to charm his way off the menu. The cut blends cartoon menace with Vegas-showgirl swagger, and on record you can hear how neatly the rhythm section leaves space for jokes to land. It’s Track 7 on the OBCR, produced by Jeanine Tesori with co-producer Peter Hylenski and released by Decca Broadway/Verve on March 24, 2009.

Review & Highlights

The Donkey Pot Pie lyrics come in hot and silly: Dragon is equal parts nightclub emcee and jailer, and Donkey does crowd work for his life. Tesori’s chart sits on a strutting backbeat with tasty brass jabs, leaving Breaker room to riff and pivot. The comedy is baked into the arrangement - big vowels, quick patter, sudden gear-shifts - so the number feels like a chase scene you can dance to. Twice the text says the obvious: lyrics matter here because every gag toggles the stakes.

Highlights: the candy-bar rhyme run (“Salisbury steak you / I’ll Frosted Flake you”), the faux-seductive “velvet glove you,” and the touchdown spike of that melisma on “pie-ie-ie-ie.” It’s vaudeville dressed as threat, and the pit keeps it light on its feet so the scene turns without grinding the show’s momentum.

Verse 1

Dragon lays the house rules over a slinky groove. Think torch-song phrasing but with claws - consonants snap, cymbals smile.

Chorus

The title phrase punches like a catchphrase, built for call-and-response. Brass and reeds pop the back end of each line, so the hook reads bright even under stage noise.

Exchange/Bridge

Donkey’s flattery blitz lands - the patter stretches time while the band vamps. It’s the classic musical-theatre con: distract the monster, pivot the mood.

Final Build

Dragon’s belt climbs, orchestra widens, and the button lands like a wink. The joke is big; the musicianship is bigger.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Under the sugar rush, this is a status duel. Dragon owns the room, Donkey owns the mic, and the number tests which power wins - brute force or charm. Because Shrek’s world flips fairy-tale norms, the monster becomes the comedian and the sidekick becomes the strategist.

The language is deliciously tactile. Food puns soften the threat, which lets the audience laugh without losing the danger. That’s a Tesori-Lindsay-Abaire sweet spot: cartoon surface, human subtext.

There’s also a genre gag at work. The arrangement borrows from R&B seduction tropes then twists them; Dragon’s confidence performs as romance while promising culinary doom. It’s camp used as a blade.

In the larger arc, this scene preps “Who I’d Be” and “Freak Flag.” Donkey’s survival style - jokes as shield, warmth as leverage - becomes glue for the trio. Meanwhile Dragon’s first impression gets rewritten later; the show likes to pull masks off the scary things.

Worth noting for completists: after Broadway, the production swapped this number out on tour and in the West End for “Forever,” a disco-pop banger that reframes Dragon as lovelorn rather than lethal. On the album, though, this is the canonical version - leaner, meaner, punchier.

Key Facts

• Artist: Daniel Breaker & Shrek Ensemble
• Writers: Jeanine Tesori - music; David Lindsay-Abaire - lyrics
• Producers: Jeanine Tesori; co-producer Peter Hylenski
• Release Date: March 24, 2009
• Album: Shrek: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Label: Decca Broadway / Verve (UMG)
• Length: ~2:42 (streaming edition)
• Track #: 7
• Recorded at: Legacy Studios, New York - January 12, 2009
• Genre: Broadway with R&B/comic-swing inflections
• Instruments: drum kit, electric bass, keys, guitars, brass, reeds, ensemble vocals
• Language: English
• Music style: uptempo showstopper with patter and belt peaks
• © Copyrights: © 2009 Decca Label Group/UMG; composition © authors

Questions and Answers

Why do some productions use a different Dragon song?

Post-Broadway versions swap in “Forever,” which leans into disco-pop romance; it tested well on tour and became the standard in licensed scripts.

Who sings on the OBCR cut?

Daniel Breaker fronts as Donkey with the Shrek ensemble; the Dragon is performed by the Broadway cast’s Dragon track within the ensemble vocal stack.

Who produced and engineered the album?

Produced by Jeanine Tesori with co-producer/sound designer Peter Hylenski; recorded at Legacy Studios with engineering credits including Lawrence Manchester and Alex Venguer across the album’s sessions.

How long is the track?

About two minutes and forty seconds on major streaming services.

Is there an official upload to reference?

Yes - a “Provided to YouTube” upload from Universal Music Group features the album version.

Awards and Chart Positions

While the single track didn’t chart separately, the album cycle did numbers - debuting at #1 on Billboard’s Top Cast Albums and peaking at #88 on the Billboard 200. The cast recording also received a nomination at the 52nd Grammy Awards for Best Musical Show Album.

How to Sing Donkey Pot Pie?

Vocal ranges: Dragon sits in big, chesty belt with playful slides; Donkey lives in talk-sung baritenor with quick patter. Keep vowels tall on “pie-ie-ie-ie” so the melisma doesn’t splinter.

Tempo & pocket: Mid-up groove; ride the backbeat. Let jokes breathe over the vamp, then snap back to the grid for the button.

Diction: Consonants are percussion. Land the k’s and t’s on subdivisions; don’t smear the food puns.

Acting beats: Dragon - bored, then intrigued, then possessive. Donkey - terrified, then improvising, then almost pulling it off. Play the flip from threat to flirt without winking too soon.

Common pitfalls: Over-scooping the hook, pushing the top notes, and blowing past laughs. Trust silence after a punchline - the orchestra will wait.