Wednesday, June 18, 2014

What Does the Fox Say? (copy)

Have you seen the video, What Does the Fox Say? It first appeared on YouTube September of last year. Since its debut, over 400 million people have watched it and tried to imitate the noises the fox makes. This fox is very unique and a little jazzy.
Musician brothers Bard and Vegard Ylvisaker make up the band, Ylvis, pronounced Elvis. They are also comedians with their own talk show in Norway. Christian Lochstoer, managing editor for the boys, helped them write the song and produce the video.
It is a simple song based on the fact that fox noises are unfamiliar to most humans. We know that a cow moos and a cat meows, but what does a fox do? We have a frog croaking and a bird tweeting, but the fox is sly. What sound does sly create.
This fox says, “Ring-ding-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!” or “Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!” You will hear it say, “Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!” and “Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho!” Like I said, he is a very jazzy fox. At the end of the video, the animated fox comes out and does a little dance while scatting, “Boo-boo-bop-weydo!” Apparently, foxes scat.
Enter the highly popular children’s book, What Does the Fox Say? illustrated by another Norwegian, Svein Nyhus. This Simon and Schuster production uses the lyrics of the song and borrows the masquerade party atmosphere from the video as a back drop for the wacky red, yellow and gray scenes involving oddly shaped animals.
In the music video, the brothers sing and dance while wearing fox outfits similar to a team mascot. Most of the revelers are also clad in mascot-like animals such as a dog, mouse, elephant and bird who dance around the foxes in an odd line dance that emphasizes the different animal paws/feet.
Amongst the dancing, sits an older man in a rocking chair with a little girl on his lap. As the boys sing “A-hee-ahee-ha-hee!” the man attempts to read the same words as if they are coming out of the picture book. In the book, it is a frog reading to two chicks and a fish in his bowl. The rocking chair is reaching to the sky as the frog looks to be horizontal and tongue-tied.
I say, grandparents beware! This is a messed up, crazy noise making book and you will need to watch the video before attempting the fox’s vo-SCAT-ulary.