'What Does the Farmer Say?' Goes Viral

By Tyler O'Neil, Op-ed contributor Friday, November 15, 2013

A new viral YouTube parody of Ylvis' hit song "The Fox" showcases the hard work of a farmer while mocking pop culture. "What Does the Farmer Say," produced by farmer Derek Klingenberg, has garnered 1.6 million views as of Friday.

Opening with the same tune and words as "The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)," the new video quickly digresses to cultural themes, economic troubles, and the government shutdown before building up to the chorus on farming. "Dog goes woof, cat goes meow, twitter goes tweet and my phone goes 'beep.' Miley twerks, Katy [Perry] Roars, and the [Kansas] Chiefs go 'touchdown.' Si [of Duck Dynasty] goes quack, the Dow goes crunch, and the government shuts down, but there's one sound that no one knows, what does the farmer say?"

Just as "The Fox" humorously suggests sounds for the fox to say, "What Does the Farmer Say?" presents some sounds that introduce a modern audience to the apparently by-gone world of farming. The first sound tells viewers of the hard work farmers do to put food on people's tables – "work, work, work, work, work, work, work."

Hilarity mounts with "yip, yip, yip, yip, yip, yee-ha!" as the farmer in the music video spurs his animals to move. Then, featuring a massive John Deere farming truck, Klingenberg says "vvvrooom!" As in "The Fox," each sound is accompanied by a hilarious full-body motion, like "cut, cut, cut," where two farmers jump, moving their hands in a circle to show the action of the machine which cuts the wheat.

Klingenberg reminds viewers: "Next time you eat/your food of choice … listen for the farmer's vo-o-o-o-oice!"

In addition to farm-centered parodies, including "Farmer's Daughter Psy – Gentleman Parody" and "Ranching Here," Klingenberg has also produced videos about his Christian faith. In a video named "Year of the Bible," Klingenberg says, "Sadly, you feel empty inside and are looking for direction. Read this Bible, and you will be happy like me!"

Pointing to his Twitter account, Klingenberg adds, "Look at that, I only follow one person – Jesus Christ!"

Klingenberg's other parodies include "Ranching Awesome," a parody of Macklemore's "Thrift Shop," and "Taylor Swift – I Knew You Were Trouble." Each video cleans up the lyrics and features farming and family themes.

ThePetersonFarmBros also have a viral video (with 14 million hits) titled "Farmer Style," a parody of "Gangnam Style." Mentioning their faith, the brothers sing "being stewards of the gifts God gave us." They also promise "we will work sunup to sundown time and time again, as if workin' for the Lord and not for men."