Hillel (first name unknown) is the Ben Folds of internet memes, albeit with far chessier arrangements. He first gained notoriety back in March with a song based on a truly dodgy collection of online drawings of dragons having sex with cars.
Now, after reading a Marginal Revolution forum about survival tips that would be useful in the event of being transported back to the Europe of 1000 AD, he's produced another internet-ephemera-inspired ditty that starts out as a pleasantly jaunty update of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Hillel arrives back in 1000 AD with a whole host of plans, like distilling brandy, passing off Beatles songs as his own and inventing the Haber Process, that will presumably set up him up quite nicely in this early medieval period. As the song progresses, however, it becomes apparent that he will ultimately be thwarted by his inability to speak the local language, and it ends with him perishing from lack of food and shelter.
Trust our cynical modern songwriters to destroy all our fantasies about being able to lord it over our benighted forbears...
Posted by Warren at June 30, 2008 11:20 PM | Songwriting