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Art & Culture

YouTube pairs: On language and tragicomedy

Every once in a while, I intend to post a pair of YouTube clips that have some (however obscure) relationship to each other.

First, we have Hatten är din. The original site (which no longer exists) that hosted this hot internet meme had this to say about the video (condensed):
Azar Habib, from Lebanon, recorded a song “Habbeetik”, which is heard in the flash video “Hatten är din”. Mr Habib is singing in Arabic, which most Swedes don’t understand, so the song was “translated” to Swedish. The printed lyrics in the video are in Swedish, phonetically matching the original singing.

The creator of the meme didn’t know what the original lyrics were about, but the Swedish lyrics are about a hat, based on a drinking game, where the person being the most drunk gets to wear the hat. The others then gather round in a circle and, while pointing at the “winner”, chant “Hatten är din” which means “the hat is yours”.

The second video in this pairing is “Elvis forgets the words”, a lost recording of one of Elvis’ concerts during his decline. A truly moving bit of footage.