We Didn't Start the Fire (Bardcore | Medieval/Renaissance Style Cover)

July 18, 2024 6:40 AM

We Didn't Start the Fire (Bardcore | Medieval/Renaissance Style Cover).

Eleanor of Aquitaine,
Charles the 6th
Hath gone insane
Reconquista
Geoffrey Chaucer,
Michelangelo

Marco Polo,
Magna Carta
Christian Schism
Siege of Acre,
Byzantine iconoclasm
Guillaume de Machaut

Charlemagne,
Alfred
Anne Boleyn
Without a head

Few things
Here to read
But the Nibelungenlied

Castile with
Aragon
Second pope in Avignon

Novgorod,
Chinggis Khan
Beowulf, Decameron

posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (16 comments total)

🔥
posted by HearHere at 6:55 AM on July 18

Amazing, I was expecting an instrumental cover but I love the lyrics. I'll never get tired of these bardcore covers.

Also the number of references I only know from playing Civ is embarrassing...
posted by catcafe at 6:57 AM on July 18 [2 favorites]

A definite improvement over the original!
posted by TedW at 7:07 AM on July 18 [7 favorites]

Incredible. I love how each specific reference mapped nicely to those in the original. "Spaniards in a strange land" was an inspired one, as was the whole lead-up to "I can't take it any more!" (Missed opportunity to have "I shan't take it any more!" though!)
posted by May Kasahara at 7:35 AM on July 18 [2 favorites]

Hildegard von Blingin' and Friar Funk bring the days of yore to bardcore.
"Panic it's the Mongols!" Indeed.
posted by TrishaU at 8:09 AM on July 18 [2 favorites]

That is awesome!
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:27 AM on July 18

How come the second pope got a mention but not the third?
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:42 AM on July 18 [1 favorite]

OK, I have Thoughts

First of all, I think "We kindled not the fire" might have scanned better

Second of all, maybe a "loud" instrument like a shawm or musette would have been better than a recorder

Third of all, I think they might have made an effort to go chronologically-- maybe one century per verse? Because the references in the same line to things that happened centuries apart are causing me a bit of whiplash.

e.g.
Charlemagne (748-814)
Alfred (849-899)
Anne Boleyn without a head (1536)

I mean, "Unready Aethelraed, oops he's dead, Alfred" was right there

(I don't mean to be negative about the creators; it's a fun song!)
posted by Pallas Athena at 9:01 AM on July 18 [8 favorites]

it was not widely accepted that the earth rotates about its axis during the time periods covered in the lyrics and therefore the chorus, and by extension the rest of the song, are invalid
posted by logicpunk at 9:04 AM on July 18 [3 favorites]

Now I really want to hear "Sackbut Man," but that's more of a Renaissance thing. Guess I'll have to wait -- keep drawing those perspective lines, guys!
posted by PlusDistance at 9:46 AM on July 18 [2 favorites]

I like sackbuts and I cannot lie
you krumhorn-lovers can't deny
When a guy walks by with his brass held high
And he knows how to work that slide
You get sprung, wanna follow the man
Step into a stately pavane
Cross-gartered hose he's wearing
I'm hooked, I can't stop staring
(etc)
posted by Pallas Athena at 10:24 AM on July 18 [9 favorites]

I've had three people send me this already so I guess my portfolio of interests is well known. Seeing the lyrics is making me want to listen to it more than the recs.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:30 AM on July 18

"We did not start the fire" is a great line...
posted by Windopaene at 11:38 AM on July 18 [1 favorite]

Nit-picking as a Historian (our favorite sport, our mascot is the Wet Blanket):

Hildegard shouts everything from the Sassanids (225 AD) to the Battle of Lepanto (1571 AD), covering a 1300 span of history.

By contrast, the original Billy Joel lyrics go pretty much from events of 1946 to 1964. And the core theme of the original song is "times are hectic and we boomers are the victims of history, doing the best we can to navigate through the folly of our elders."

If they'd narrowed it down to events of The War of the Roses, or the Crusades, or the Renaissance wars of the Italian City States (1460-1550), that could have been a thing.

But by just doing a bunch of random shout outs across the entire widest possible range of the middle ages, it undercuts the lyrical theme. It's unfocused.

It's cute, but it's not as clever as it thinks itself to be.
posted by LeRoienJaune at 11:59 AM on July 18 [3 favorites]

@Pallas Athena: THANK YOU. I wasn't the only one bothered by the chronological order thing.

I just didn't want to say anything in case someone got all offended that I was slagging the song. It's otherwise good, except he feral backing vocalist needs to be a bit more in the mix.

Just saw the typo - leaving it.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 12:09 PM on July 18 [2 favorites]

Color me stunned for learning it's possible to make that song listenable.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:10 PM on July 19