Ylvis Poses a Question For The Ages...I Think

About the only thing Norwegian that comes to my memory bank where pop music is concerned, and what a great memory it is, is "Take On Me" by the pin-up poster worthy trio a-ha. The song was a #1 smash in 1985 and employed a very snazzy, ahead of the curve video which featured animation in a style called rotoscoping. Their follow up single, "The Sun Always Shines On TV" for my money is one of the most priceless titles that ever existed in the annals of music history. That video was kind of a downer in that it completely destroyed the boy meets girl, boy and girl battle their way through a comic book world, boy fights his way out of his comic book alternate dimension to become a flesh and blood human, boy and girl apparently get to live happily ever after. Nope. The boy succumbs to his comic book world (did the antidote for the curse wear off?) leaving the girl without her newly found main squeeze. Why the Norwegian culture lesson? Because, as we fast forward to September 2013 we've now got a Norwegian variety act duo called Ylvis (A cabaret in Norwegian)that are pondering a question that mankind has likely been scratching its collective noodle over for centuries...the sound that a fox makes. Kudos to the two for taking all of our minds off of economic misery, troops overseas, etc...The two have names of course. Please don't ask me to pronounce them. I'd probably need some definite muscle relaxants to come down after the attempt. Anyway the twosome are Bard Urheim Ylvisaker and Vegard Urheim Ylvisaker. Give them credit also for coming up with a variety of potential fox sounds. If this is some kind of attempt at global dumbing down at least they've gotten comfy in the See Spot Run vein of things. They play electronic which is appropriate given the light as air subject matter they're working with. It's party time once we're introduced to their attempts to crack the fox vernacular code. "Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!!" or quite possibly "Joff-tchoff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!" Might it be "Jacha-chacha-chacha-chow?" You'd be best served concentrating on the smoking dance floor primed cranking going on and just let the not so eternal question bring a friendly grin to your face. Beforehand they set us up with what isn't exactly earth shattering differently knowledge about the kind of sounds other well-known animals make. Allow me to illustrate it in their words. "Dog goes woof. Cat go meow.Birds go tweet. Mouse goes squeak. Cow goes moo. Frog goes croak. Elephant goes toot. Ducks go quack. Fish go blub. Seal goes OW OW OW. Let me say we could just as easily put the elephant in the hard to categorize file. It's just an imposing roar to me. Toot seems a bit delicate. And as for the seal I think that it makes more of a bark than an "Ow" sound. So I guess we shouldn't send Bard and Vegard into an elementary school science class. It's nice of them to compliment the fox on its beautiful red fur which, to their way of thinking, makes it look like an angel in disguise. Next question, meant for anyone who's heard this latest viral sensation. Why would a fox communicate with a horse, in Morse code or otherwise? Keep shuffling to the beat and you won't have that conundrum pounding away at your skull for the next several weeks. I declare "The Fox" is to music what angel food cake is to dessert, not much substance but lightly pleasing to the palate. There's some piano tossed in for what could be construed as dramatic effect but again it could just be to distract you from the realization that not much of your waking life is spent asking yourself what sound a fox makes. A five year-old might wonder but not a blogosphere full of halfway educated adults. The video is good for a few chuckles. You might have to pull the shades down out of embarrassment but not for the usual lurid sex, gratuitous cursing reasons you'd usually associate with hiding your viewing habits from the nosy Nelly who lives a few doors down. Overall "The Fox" doesn't merit a huge quantity of your valuable time. However if keeping up with what's making the viral rounds floats your boat then have it, cop the puzzled look I know your face will likely be getting and then move on to the next burning cultural question you might be entertaining. How about I suggest "Why is it that Goofy wears pants and Pluto doesn't?"