how the quick brown fox got shafted good

"Cow goes moo

Frog goes croak

and the elephant goes toot..."

An absolute genius. A brilliant parody. A shrewd satire. Don't even think of calling the song moronic. If you have half a mind, you'd see that the idiotic lyrics actually veil a deeper, earth-shaking meaning. It announces to the world the profound truth that the "dog goes woof, cat goes meow, bird goes tweet, and mouse goes squeek".

It might just be age, or a typical snottiness at brain-dead pop tunes, but I'm seriously stumped: how did the quick-witted discerning fox of magic, folklore and Aesop's fables get fucked over by a comedy duo and a million youtube hits?

It's comedy, dude, you might say. Ylvis aimed for the laughs first, musical aesthetics last. Yeah, right. It is hilarious how the same world that gave birth and was awed by the likes of John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison went over the top at such perceptive lyrics as "Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!" and "Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!" to the tune of electronic dance pop. A critic did try to rationalise the lyrics and raise the song to a Jungian level by claiming it is a "parody of the excessess  and absurdities of contemporary club music". Big, important-sounding words; crappy substance. The intention may be there, but it has totally sailed over the heads of millions of pop worshippers who suck up "Whatdoesthefoxsay" for its mindless fun, its repetitive beat, and its brainless words. If this song and its popularity symbolises anything at all, then it must be this generation's confused priorities and bizarre diversions.

But, should it have made any sense at all? Does the fox even say anything at all? The hell he does! The fox is a vital character in folklore and some of the best literatures of the world. He is a recurring figure in Aesop's fables, often representing the wiley but wiser side of man. As a spirit animal, the fox is said to be a teacher providing guidance out of obstacles. As a symbol, the fox is associated with increased awareness, cunning, and discernment. And in one of the most beautiful books ever written--The Little Prince by Antoine de St. Exupery--the fox was the wise soul who understood the world and kindly taught a little boy that "it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Sadly, one of the songwriters of "The Fox" defended its creation by saying it came out of "a genuine wonder of what the fox says, because we didn’t know." 

Is the answer harmlessly ignorant, or intentionally ironic? The fox has been with mankind since time immemorial and his message and what he stands for is right there all along staring at us in the face. How can we not know what the fox said? Are we so far gone that we archive everything we could learn from the past, and click click click only on the trending present?  In the end, it's a sad, silly world that doesn't have the heart and mind to know what the fox said. 

And it is tragic that a song which could have driven an essential truth home became a massive hit for all the shallow reasons.