Straight No Chaser is an a capella group who, in the video down below, is on tour in New Mexico. They decided to cover a classic song, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” and while there have been many different covers and renditions, Straight No Chaser’s cover is definitely the funniest. The video begins with one of the members clarifying before they begin to sing that they’ve choreographed their own performance, and it brings out a laugh from the crowd.
Nine men stand behind him stretching their legs and bending down to reach the floor in a not-so-serious manner. Then, they start to sing.
The man on the far left sings the deepest, and then all the members join in. They sing the beginning of the song, and then one of the members starts singing the highest of high notes. When the same man starts to sing the verse, the men behind him start swaying back and forth. The audience breaks into laughter when they start to move up and down (one up, one down, one up, and so on).
The laughter intensifies when one of the men starts jumping up and down much more dramatically than the others. They continue to perform with silly dance moves that make people laugh.
Toward the end, the lead singer runs toward one end of the stage and yells, “Just you, sir!” and he holds the mic down to an audience member. Everybody laughs as he does this, and even more when the man he pointed to didn’t sing. When he walks away, he points at the man but looks away and says, “Totally left me hanging!”
Just as the song is about to end, the singer says, “Dance party,” and they all break out into a dance still singing.
While this video is supposed to be a parody (that much is obvious when you watch the performance) people in the comments under the video are loving it. One comment read, “Always nice to see performers enjoying themselves; really adds to the atmosphere.”
Another one read, “Can’t help but smile when I watch this – thank god the world still has music.” This rendition is one that makes viewers feel good, as they obviously enjoy what they do, but don’t take it all too seriously.
If you want to watch Straight No Chaser’s parody of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” click the video down below!
