Whop!

March 2, 2010 9:20 AM

Waka Waka Hey Hey - tracing a tune's spread across the world.
posted by jtron (7 comments total)

This is dorky and only tangentially related, but DJ/Rupture played a song of mine [that I originally posted on MeFi music] on his show last night. I can only hope that my jam is half as viral.
posted by cloeburner at 9:33 AM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

Very cool—thanks for the post!
posted by languagehat at 10:03 AM on March 2, 2010

This is the definitely the best of the web. It's rare to find a youtube post with this type of awesome.
posted by es_de_bah at 10:28 AM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

Very interesting! I did a study a few months ago on the crossover between some 19th century classical pieces and 1980s hair metal ballads, which occasionally come full circle when a group like the London Symphony Orchestra decides to give said '80s song the classical treatment. I don't have the details in front of me now, but they were fun to hunt down. YouTube is a surprisingly great resource for quickly finding obscure historical music.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 10:31 AM on March 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

What a great post, thanks jtron. I'm going to have waka waka hey hey going through my head for the next half hour or so, which is an improvement on the earlier earworm.

The acapella version with the dancing kid in the first clip was the best of the lot though.
posted by handee at 12:38 PM on March 2, 2010

The kid makes this sticky. Once you've seen him, you gotta see them all. Great post!
posted by fcummins at 1:42 PM on March 2, 2010

The video for the Cameroonian military version is insane. Great post, though, and a great tune.
posted by afx237vi at 2:22 PM on March 2, 2010