Analyzing ‘The Fox’ by Ylvis, aka the weirdest song of all time

A notable thing that has happened in my life over the past week is that I’ve gotten really into Norwegian Black Metal. And I mean REALLY, really into it. Not enough to listen to any of the music or anything insane like that, but I’m currently in the middle of two separate books on the topic and it’s pretty much all I want to talk about. Clearly.

Basically, Norwegian Black Metal was a crazy phenomenon from the early-90s started by a group of very intense and humorless guys with long hair. They dressed in all black and wore “corpsepaint” (white face paint, like how Satan likes), and took on edgy pseudonyms like Euronuymous and Dead. The coolest among them carried scythes as an accessory. But THEN they started burning down churches and stabbing one another through the skull, and now they’re all dead or in prison.

Anyway, those books plus today’s discovery of a Norwegian group called Ylvis, which I can only assume is the Scandinavian Elvis (actually, it’s 2 brothers who consider themselves “a cabaret”), have convinced me that I absolutely must move to Norway immediately and immerse myself in their musical subcultures. From what I can gather, Ylvis is kind of Norway’s answer to The Lonely Island. Their new video, called “The Fox,” answers a question we have all asked at one time or another: “What the fox say?”

What the fuck the fox say?? Fall asleep on your keyboard for a few minutes and you have the answer. Even if this is a parody video, which it seems to be based on a cursory glance through Ylvis’ other work, it is still one of the weirdest songs ever released.

I mean, just the premise of trying to figure out what a fox sounds like, when everyone knows a fox just sounds like a dog, right?, is super bizarre and hilarious. And then there’s the breakdown of the sounds the other animals make.

Yes, it does!

Certainly correct.

We are 3 for 3.

Generally that is spelled with an “A,” but close enough!

Hell yes, cow goes moo.

Not into “ribbit”?

Now that is simply incorrect.

We’re back on track!

We’re back off track.

What the fuck did you do to that seal?

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