I’m pretty confident this wouldn’t fly today.
As part of the soundtrack to his 1983 movie “To Be or Not to Be,” Mel Brooks recorded (as Hitler!) a Fuhrer-themed rap song entitled “To Be or Not to Be (The Hitler Rap).” I have a few thoughts, but, first, here it is in all its glory:
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I’m uncertain about which of the following is the most amazing facet of this pop culture artifact:
1. The intro features dancers breathlessly singing “Sieg Heil” over and over.
2. Not only is Mel Brooks rapping as Hitler, but he’s rapping as Hitler while also using the patented “Mel Brooks black voice.”
3. This song made it all the way to number twelve on the UK Singles Chart. Two spots short of being a Top Ten hit. It reached #3 in Australia, #2 in Sweden, and #1 in Norway!
4. It’s actually a fairly detailed and more-accurate-than-you-would-expect rundown of the history surrounding World War II in Europe.
5. It’s always sounded an awful lot to me like a slowed-down version of Carl Carlton’s “She’s a Bad Mama Jama” with just a touch of Taco’s version of Puttin’ on the Ritz.
6. The lyrics include the following lines: “We had an election. Well – kinda, sorta. And before you knew it – Hello, New Order!” and “I drank wine from the Rhine with the finest ladies / And we did it in the back of my black Mercedes.”
7. The lyrical version of the Hitler account ends, after a tease of suicide, not with death, but with a “one-way ticket to Argentina!”
I feel like there aren’t enough exclamation points in the world to convey my mixed feelings of confusion, astonishment, and admiration adequately.
about the Obama Administration’s decision to cease defending DOMA than with an analysis of the relative merits of three Thursday night sitcoms.
Don’t let the subtitle fool you – this ‘cast has nothing whatsoever to do with either the 1985 Jeff Bridges / James Woods / Alex Karras “thriller,” or the Oscar-winning Phil Collins song of the same name. Enjoy.
and that scratching-record moment where John Travolta grabs Marlon Brando’s injured leg, and, with penetrating concentration, uses his mind-power to heal Brando’s injury.
has been ruffling the feathers of our Chinese 
will Sterling Archer’s own action / intrigue (and Burt Reynolds references) allow upstart Archer to take the crown from venerable and little-watched NBC fare?
assigned to me during my early academic career. As was the case with most of that group, I ended up merely skimming enough to do well on the test or write the paper, as needed. I’m not proud of that fact, but such was life when I was in my early-to-mid-teens.
Sunday Spambag
Those of you who have been following this site with any regularity undoubtedly know that there are many ways to interact with the Axis of Ego. We have an e-mail account,
comments options on the blog itself, as well as a Twitter account that I have unapologetically promoted to no avail.*
I had anticipated one day rolling out a “reader mail” or “best of feedback” column that would run periodically. The idea would be to present and respond to the most interesting or relevant questions from readers (in addition to my normal diligence in responding to comment threads within each post).
As we are too early on in the process to generate the volume of good feedback required for such an undertaking, I choose instead to respond to what we actually have received. If life gives you spam, you have to make spamonade:
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