Friday, February 20, 2009

Alternate Lyrics

Sometimes I come across strings of similar things. Today's similar things appear to be misunderstood lyrics. First, Obama's Elf:

And second, a truly surreal version of Carmina Burana:

Carmina Burana is not a piece of music that many people recognize by name, but the introduction, mocked above, has been used in so many soundtracks and other audio and audiovisual productions that it is familiar by sound to nearly everybody. If you ever have the opportunity to read a translation as you listen to the full production, I highly recommend it. in the 1930's, Carl Orf took medieval lyrics discovered in the early 1800's (written in the 1200's) from a Bavarian abbey, and set them to music. As you might expect of monks, they're all about wine, women and song (the middle ages equivalents of sex and drugs and rock and roll). It's a beautiful work, but awfully funny when you contrast the grandeur and formality of the music with the, ummm... earthyness... of its subject matter.

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