Jessica Day George

Monday, August 11, 2008

The Swedish Chef Sings Carmen

I don't normally direct people who might be young and impressionable to YouTube . . . but oh, my golly!

There is a clip on YouTube of The Muppets' Swedish Chef and Beaker singing "Habanera" from the opera Carmen.  After the first three seconds, I was laughing so hard I couldn't see.  So here's the link, use it responsibly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDFgtFXfnv0

You can thank me later, if you don't die of laughter.  I don't know what it is, perhaps the dramatic way they both appear onscreen . . . I can't get enough!

"Bork, bork-bork-bork! Bork, bork-bork-bork!"

"Me me me, memememe memememe. . . . "

I can't stand it!

The other YouTube video I can't get enough of (and neither can Boy, he wants to watch it every day) is the Misheard Numa Numa Lyrics.  Now, some of you may be familiar with the Numa Numa Guy.  A few years back, when weirdo video clips first started circulating on the internet and being relentlessly forwarded via email, this chubby guy named Gary Brolsma became wildly popular for lip-synching this song into his webcam.  The song, "Dragostea O Din Tei" is in Hungarian (? Romanian?  Actually, not sure. . . .), something which seems to have escaped the average viewer.  All anyone knows for sure is that the chorus contains the words "Numa Numa", hence the nickname for the song.  Having watched Gary rock out to this song a number of times, I was well aware that whatever he was singing, it was not English.  But a large number of people seem to think that it is, and have "figured out" the words.  Someone has now taken the misheard lyrics and illustrated them using stick men and photographs.  They are hilariously incoherent, and you wonder what kind of person thought he was saying, "Raise a fresh pear!  No my no my A!" 

Because all good pop songs contain a reference to farming, right?

So, yes, I should be working hard on a couple of manuscripts, but instead I'm watching stick men act out misunderstood Hungarian pop songs, and Beaker and the Chef do Verdi.

Fine, I'll get back to work!  Slave drivers!

But let me also point everyone to the "Meet Jessica" page, where there are shiny new events posted, two of them for this week.  So if you live in or around southern Utah, come and see me!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That clip was...hilarious! My goodness.

Anonymous said...

It's Romanian, and I'm pretty sure "numa" means "I can't".

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot! I not only watched the Carmen clip, but I was seduced even further to the dark side and watched Danny Boy and The Lion Sleeps Tonight. I was barely able to drag myself away from YouTube after that. You are a BAD influence!

Anonymous said...

The Numa song is called "Dragostea din tei" but it's by O-Zone and 'tis in Moldovan. Wikipedia says, and I quote:
"The refrain, "nu ma, nu ma iei", can be approximately translated from Romanian as 'you don't, you don't take me [with you].'"

Anonymous said...

Okay, so it sadly never occurred to me to look up the real version of the song or the lyrics. And yes, if you keep looking at the related Muppet videos, you can see a number of HILARIOUS Muppet songs.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for Dragon Flight. It made my life today more fun than usual.

Anonymous said...

and I watched lots of Muppet clips with my kids last night. They were lots of fun, especially Ode to Joy and Classical Chicken.

Anonymous said...

Okay, that was just evil! lol We all just got sucked in. Now Joseph (and everyone else now) keeps saying mee mee mee because we also watched Ode to Joy as well as a few others! Thanks. A. Lot. lol