Vladimir "Fats" Putin
December 11, 2010 9:52 AM   Subscribe

Vladimir Putin sings "Blueberry Hill" - SLYT
posted by Huplescat (49 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
He's on a horse.
posted by clvrmnky at 9:58 AM on December 11, 2010 [3 favorites]


Reminds me of this, but less compelling.

If I were a supervillainous overlord, I would go with something a little more minor, like maybe "St. James Infirmary," but that's why I'm not in the business and he is, I suppose.
posted by Countess Elena at 10:00 AM on December 11, 2010




Did I just see Goldie Hawn and Kevin Costner in the audience? Have they been kidnapped?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:03 AM on December 11, 2010


The scary part is that this was probably a secret message to a sleeper cell somewhere.
posted by Dr Dracator at 10:15 AM on December 11, 2010 [7 favorites]


Heh. Blueberry Hill...that's where my fiancé and I got together! You're more likely to hear rock 'n' roll there, though, than the bar's namesake song. We just saw Bettie Serveert there in the downstairs Duck Room a while back.

Re: the actual song, this is such a weird rendition. Why is the keyboard player doubling Putin's vocals? Just 'cause he likes/recognizes the song, you think? But I wonder if Putin was mad later that he didn't get to sing it solo...
posted by limeonaire at 10:18 AM on December 11, 2010


I always knew Andy Kaufman would come back one day
posted by Lanark at 10:27 AM on December 11, 2010 [5 favorites]


The velvet autocrat? Sorry Putin, you'll never hold a candle to Russia's #1 crooner. You could snuff him out, but you could never snuff the legend.
posted by dgaicun at 10:34 AM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


Ah yes, the old chestnut of despots from the murderous to the petty: trying to seem "cool" or "cultured". See also Jiang Zemin reciting poetry, Stephen Harper singing shit, etc.
posted by kmz at 10:34 AM on December 11, 2010 [2 favorites]


Also, am I the only one who can't think of anything but ' ... on top of spagheeeetttiiii ♫ ♪' whenever I hear this song?
posted by dgaicun at 10:39 AM on December 11, 2010 [3 favorites]


I can't tell you why but I found that strangely moving. Like maybe we'll all be singing each other's songs when we get to heaven. May the circle be unbroken.
posted by nola at 10:48 AM on December 11, 2010 [2 favorites]


He can fish shirtless, he can fly a helicopter, he can play piano, he can sing, and he can corrupt a fledgling democracy to enrich himself and his cronies. Is there anything this superman cannot do?
posted by Nelson at 10:49 AM on December 11, 2010 [2 favorites]


is it too late to trade obama for putin straight up?
posted by nathancaswell at 10:55 AM on December 11, 2010


First the puppy, now this. Has he been doing some really heinous shit recently that no one knows about yet (except maybe Assange) and is desperately trying to rake in a little good PR before it goes public?

I was somehow more comfortable with the "savage master of all things manly" photo ops. This is just cringeworthy.
posted by Chichibio at 10:57 AM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


no, jodie foster butchering eminem was cringe worthy, this is boner worthy.
posted by nathancaswell at 10:58 AM on December 11, 2010


goldie hawn??
posted by kuatto at 11:00 AM on December 11, 2010


Sarah Palin would so lose to him in karoke.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:01 AM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


Ah yes, the old chestnut of despots from the murderous to the petty: trying to seem "cool" or "cultured". See also Jiang Zemin reciting poetry, Stephen Harper singing shit, etc.


They'll never hold a candle to Dr. Evil.
posted by bitteroldman at 11:03 AM on December 11, 2010


If Julian Assange was outing Russian stuff, he wouldn't be worrying about jail. Journalists and others that go after Putin tend to have fatal "accidents".
posted by kmz at 11:05 AM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


Sarah Palin would so lose to him in karoke.

Nonsense. She can hear his karaoke machine from her bedroom window. She knows exactly what she's up against.
posted by Dumsnill at 11:06 AM on December 11, 2010 [3 favorites]


no, jodie foster butchering eminem was cringe worthy, this is boner worthy.

Haha, who cares if he's a murderous despot, he can sing so he's awesome!
posted by kmz at 11:08 AM on December 11, 2010


Haha, i'm on metafilter and i can't enjoy anything no matter how preposterous and surreal it is!
posted by nathancaswell at 11:11 AM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'll agree to disagree, nathan. Putin's mumble gets your bone on, I'm just not feeling it. This old chestnut, however, turns my crank every time.
posted by Chichibio at 11:12 AM on December 11, 2010 [2 favorites]


@kmz, yeah, thise fatal accidents seem to involve your higer grade of glow in the dark sushi.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 11:32 AM on December 11, 2010


Did I just see Goldie Hawn and Kevin Costner in the audience? Have they been kidnapped?

Yes & also Sharon Stone & Jeff Bridges, who seems to have borrowed Jay Leno's chin for the weekend. Honestly, the things famous people do to their faces is just beyond me. I'm hoping that the images of children above the stage is meant to indicate that they're the beneficiaries of a charity event, not the main course. With a guy like Putin, you just can't be sure.
posted by scalefree at 11:40 AM on December 11, 2010


dgaicun: "Also, am I the only one who can't think of anything but ' ... on top of spagheeeetttiiii ♫ ♪' whenever I hear this song"

Well, not anymore, you aren't, goddamit.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 11:42 AM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


Goldie Hawn, Kevin Costner, Gerard Depardieu, Sharon Stone, Jeff Bridges. Aplauding Putin. Confirms what I knew all along: Team America was right.
posted by falameufilho at 11:55 AM on December 11, 2010


Eh. Call me when he does Trolololo.
posted by bicyclefish at 11:55 AM on December 11, 2010 [4 favorites]


CLAP NOW
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:07 PM on December 11, 2010 [8 favorites]


He can fish shirtless, he can fly a helicopter, he can play piano, he can sing, and he can be installed by the remnants of the old state secret police to corrupt save a fledgling democracy Russia from a disastrous kleptocracy in league with the Soviet Union's old enemy... and to enrich himself and his cronies.

Putin's problem in the West has never been that he was an asshole, just that he wasn't our asshole. We were perfectly happy to see the old Soviet Union plundered by our friends, whose crimes (including murder) were pushed under the rug in an early play of "Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy." It's a testament to the degree to which public opinion is manipulated in the US our corrupt kleptocracy that he's widely seen as some sort of super-villain.
posted by ennui.bz at 12:12 PM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


He's also a judo black belt. His whole life has been moving up to leading Russia. "Putin's Progress" was a pretty eye-opening book on the guy. One of the things I found most telling about his character was his personal rule to always stay at least two drinks behind everyone else at a party or state function.

And then, of course, there's his way with animals: walruses, bears, and dogs.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:25 PM on December 11, 2010


"Putin's Progress"? Is that the one where he busts out of the Gulag of Despond with nothing but a rusty AK and his massive biceps?
posted by Chichibio at 12:39 PM on December 11, 2010 [2 favorites]


Not the best title, it's true, but it is pretty fascinating. Didn't get along so well with Clinton, as the American president apparently had a low opinion of him personally, but when he met Bush, and he made that "I looked into his eyes and saw his soul" remark? He was smitten. You see? He's really a sucker for flattery, the big softie.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:43 PM on December 11, 2010 [2 favorites]


ennui.bz, you left out the part where all those dead Russian journalist are just tragic suicides.
posted by Nelson at 1:35 PM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


ennui.bz, you left out the part where all those dead Russian journalist are just tragic suicides.

Actually I think the point was journalists have accidents under all Russian presidents, but we don't mention those which occur under the "friendly" ones.

Shit, lets just see how Assange fairs over the next few months before we get all "in Soviet Russia Realpolitik kills you!"
posted by fullerine at 2:09 PM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


Putin doesn't always drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis.
posted by pickinganameismuchharderthanihadanticipated at 2:26 PM on December 11, 2010 [2 favorites]


...and he can corrupt a fledgling democracy to enrich himself and his cronies.

I think you may be grossly and idealistically confused as to the nature of the Russian Federation.
posted by griphus at 2:35 PM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


I love this. Assange for the Nobel...Blueberry Hill.


'Armstrong analysis: Fats antecedent and cure.'

"The wind in the willow played .................. (do you really love me)
Love’s sweet melody .........................(as I love you)
But all of those vows we made ................ (will you still remember)
Were never to be .......................... (when the night is through)"

------------------------------------------------------------------------
'I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.'

The man likes fun.
posted by clavdivs at 3:00 PM on December 11, 2010


clavidus, I sometimes wonder what drugs you are on, and where I can get some
posted by angrycat at 3:09 PM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


Unbelievably surreal. Just everything...the too-slowness of the instrumentation, turning it into vaguely unsettling elevator music; the dazed, smiling celebrities who look like they may all be wasted on valium; the distinctly unwholesome backup singers; and then Putin himself, aglow with triumph, whispering more than he sings, clearly having the time of his life. I see film critics misuse the term "Lynchian" all the time. Now, from now on, I will have this to point to: This is Lynchian.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 3:23 PM on December 11, 2010 [5 favorites]


Clap on the upbeat, people, for heaven's sake, white people. Go with the trumpet player.
I had my last night of drunkenness, dancing to this song with the guy who sobered me up. Gets me every time.
posted by etaoin at 3:48 PM on December 11, 2010


German President Walter Scheel could sing too.
posted by Namlit at 4:27 PM on December 11, 2010


He sounds like Chekov, drunk at the navigation station of the Enterprise.
posted by bwg at 5:22 PM on December 11, 2010


He should have covered P-P-P-Polonium.
posted by benzenedream at 5:34 PM on December 11, 2010 [1 favorite]


The company of power is seductive. When the dictator loosens up and makes himself vulnerable, he knows just what he's doing - and his underling lapdogs lap it up. Blueberry Hill? Is that where you bury your murdered journalists, Vladimir?
posted by Vibrissae at 7:16 PM on December 11, 2010


I'll bet the Fonz told him to sing this. I think Putin was just looking to impress the ladies á la Richie Cunningham.
posted by Mael Oui at 7:18 PM on December 11, 2010


Putin's vocal stylings remind me of Blixa Bargeld singing 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 7:37 PM on December 11, 2010 [2 favorites]


Put in the Thing.
posted by twoleftfeet at 10:12 PM on December 12, 2010


I really thought this was Vladimir Putin Shreds
posted by tehloki at 11:53 PM on December 12, 2010


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