Althouse: A familiar song, sung in English, with an amazing twist.

January 6, 2008

A familiar song, sung in English, with an amazing twist.

Keep watching!

ADDED: YouTube Is My Life.

21 comments:

Meade said...: Way cool.; 1/6/08, 10:07 PM
Peter Hoh said...: I'd show this to my teenager, but II'm not sure I should encourage his visions of You Tube stardom.; 1/6/08, 10:20 PM
Ron said...: !!LLAB YALP; 1/6/08, 10:21 PM
Roost on the Moon said...: Dutch performance artist Jeroen Offerman has been doing a similar trick for a few years, except to the screamy and epic "Stairway to Heaven", complete with backward air-guitar solos. He does the whole 8-minute thing live (on stage, or in the iteration I saw, in public in front of nonplussed passers-by), then reverses the tape, adds a karaoke track and makes minor tempo adjustments to keep them synced up, and plays it back.

Unfortunately, it isn't available online, but there is some more info here.; 1/6/08, 10:26 PM
Anonymous said...: Roost,
A backwards performance by Offerman can be viewed on YouTube, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp_iEWZnYok; 1/6/08, 10:35 PM
Palladian said...: I've got good news! That gum you like is going to come back in style!; 1/6/08, 10:35 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: I like the line, Jose can you see... He was speaking to the illegal aliens.; 1/6/08, 10:43 PM
JackDRipper said...: Middle Class Guy said...I like the line, Jose can you see... He was speaking to the illegal aliens.

Yes, it was a dog whistle to the racist, right wing, xenophobic, islamophobic, homophobic, capitalist, Republican, fascist war machine that has burned the constitution stolen our civil liberties and is now working to steal another election like they did in 2000/2004.

I guessed what he was doing early on but didn't guess the song....dlo dna derit m'I esuac.; 1/6/08, 10:59 PM
Shawn Levasseur said...: The the moment the balloons "unpopped", with how it fit in with the song on the replay... I stood up and was applauding and laughing.

Brilliant.

The man has way too much time on his hands, but it's still brilliant.; 1/6/08, 11:10 PM
reader_iam said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/6/08, 11:34 PM
reader_iam said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/6/08, 11:37 PM
reader_iam said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/6/08, 11:48 PM
Palladian said...: She's filled with secrets! Where we're from, the birds sing a pretty song, and there's always music in the air.; 1/6/08, 11:54 PM
reader_iam said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/6/08, 11:55 PM
Jennifer said...: Ha! The added video is pretty awesome.; 1/7/08, 12:11 AM
Anonymous said...: Backwards becomes it.

Our national anthem is as good in either direction. What I want to hear is the retrograde inversion in a 6-part crab canon (cancrizans). Turn Bach or Schoenberg loose on it, I don't care. It could only improve it.

My own taste in a national anthem runs to America the Beautiful or even Columbia the Gem of the Ocean—anything but that odd paean to the War of 1812.

My objections are not the dreary antique ones from my youth in the 60's—you know, it's too violent, too chauvinistic, etc., etc. If you want violent, try the Marseillaise. Now that's a national anthem.

No, my problem with the Star Spangled Banner is that it just sucks. It's hard to sing, and the words are dumb. I know it's too late to do anything about it, so I'll just register my objections and shut up. But I would vote for any Presidential candidate (even Ron Paul) who promised to get rid of the damn thing.; 1/7/08, 1:32 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Hard to sing? That's half the fun of it. The melody is an old drinking song. You're supposed to be drunk. Just plunge right in. As for the War of 1812... it's not as if we started it. And while there are bombs in the song, the songwriter is looking at the bright side — figuratively and literally — as their light makes the flag visible during the night.; 1/7/08, 5:52 AM
tjl said...: "it's too violent, too chauvinistic, etc"

For chauvinism it's hard to beat the original 18th-century text of "God Save the King," with now-suppressed lines aimed at the French:

"Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks"
etc.; 1/7/08, 6:57 AM
George M. Spencer said...: Remember the guy, Professor Backwards?

He was a Vegas lounge act. He was on Carson all the time.

The poor guy died when he fell into the Mississippi.

He drowned because passers-by ignored his cries of "Pleh! Pleh!"; 1/7/08, 6:59 AM
knox said...: Palladian beat me to it. This gimmick was used very effectively in Twin Peaks. I remember being amazed when I realized how that scene was done.; 1/7/08, 8:07 AM
MadisonMan said...: Very clever. He obviously watched this movie.; 1/7/08, 9:05 AM