Hey, King George: It's Too Late to Apologize!
By Tom Meeks, Soomo Publishing
Those of us at Soomo who are over 35 don’t know much about Timbaland, but we couldn’t help but get interested in our colleague Tim Alden Grant’s video project when we heard it featured the Framers in an 80′s Hair Band moment. Check this out. Share it with friends and your classes. And let us know what you think!
61 Responses to “Hey, King George: It's Too Late to Apologize!”
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A fine example of why I love Soomo Publishing. Great job Tim.
Simply great. Embedded it as fast as I could and sent the link along.
Simple, visceral, great tune, non-preachy and… doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Excellent!!
Love This!!
Excellent!! with this kind of material available why we wouldn’t just use homeschooling?!!
Very Nice.
A most excellent video! The production quality is first rate. The way the shots are framed make it visually appealing. Love the eyes at 00:18. I saw the youtube link on A commment board on Fox Nation, then posted the link on my 9-12 group website. Then emailed the link to the Glenn Beck Program.
Love it!!!
Awesome video, great song, great meaning. . . should be required viewing during studies of the founding and the revolution. . . Well done!
Great job, one and all! I absolutely loved this video! Not too hammy, but gets the message home. And not too long, too–the bane of SNL skits.
I sent the link to my oldest son in college and can’t wait to hear what he thinks of it. I know he’ll love it too. Keep up the good work! The shots I loved best were:
1) The slow zoom on the lead singer (Adams?) down the table
2)The other shot around the table with everyone singing “too late…”
3) The silhouettes
4) The jump after the violin bridge to the band playing live! Tremendous!!
Silly me…of course it has to be Jefferson with the violin and the fact that he wrote the thing.
Brillliant; utterly brilliant. You realize you’ve written the anthem for the National Tea Party Movement, don’t you?
This was hilarious, awesome, and completely ridiculous! Ha.. I loved it.
Great work. I had to post it on our website.
Flat out spectacular! More! More!
That video is even better than the original…top freakin’ notch.
Hey guys, thanks for helping to bring the message of our foundation to another generation of American citizens.
Your sense of humor is great. The production as a whole is just stunning. I hope this makes it into classrooms all over the nation.
Can you provide a link to this band?
Hey, Tim. This isn’t really an actual band. Soomo is an online educational publisher and we thought it would be fun to create a spoof video on the Declaration of Independence that could be used by teachers in class to get their students interested in the material.
I think this is wonderful!! I’ve sent it to all the history teachers I know. Seems to me, though, that the lead singer is John Adams, with Jefferson being the tall redhead with the quill pen.
As someone else said, “More, please!”
This is fantastic. The effort reminded me of an idea I had back when I was a teenager to put an American Revolution motif to the Twisted Sister song “We’re Not Gonna Take It”. I love the idea of finding new ways to connect today’s younger generation to American history and principles. I’ll bet you all have a lot of fun coming up with such resources. I envy you! Thanks for the video!
I WANT THIS SONG!!! I will pay for it!
Ellen said…
“Seems to me, though, that the lead singer is John Adams, with Jefferson being the tall redhead with the quill pen.”
That was exactly my thought originally, but thought I was being stupid since everyone else seems to think the lead singer is Jefferson. Now I’m not sure again since Ellen thinks the lead singer is Adams too.
Somebody clarify this dilemma for us, please!
Thomas Jefferson is the lead singer as he was the author of the declartion of Independence. On guitar was Ben Franklin, on Bass John Adams, on Keys was John Hancock, and on Drums was Sam Adams. Intresting note that Ben Franklin’s shirt says S / D which was his pen name. Google it as I can’t recall the full name.
We loved your video so much that we have embedded it twice and we are now linking to you in our left sidebar. Please let us know how we can help you get your message out. NoisyRoom salutes you as a true patriot and just what students need…
You absolutely cannot stop here.
This can break soomo on to the international stage.
I look forward to your next work on the founders.
S/D-Silence Dogood. Remember that from National Treasure. This video has just rekindled my interest in American history. I’m 41 & I guess your never too old to learn. Thanks for this amazing video. Even my 11 year old was interested!
Wow! We love it! Great job on the filming Tim! Who wrote the lyrics? Very creative!
This needs to be sent to every member in Congress and to every State Politician. We The People own this country. Not someone sitting in DC.
The is a true work of art with quite a lot to appreciate.
The key in Franklins mouth during the Jam, is this a reference to the Lighting experiment with the kite and a key?
And the final line of the song.
“Half accross the globe and we’re standing on new ground.”
Not just physically new ground, but philosophically new ground. And hints at some level of wonder as to where that new ground will lead.
As brilliant as it is beautiful.
Thank you……very nicely done.
[...] hitting a chord with people who are upset with government (including Glenn Reynolds, Moe Lane and some [...]
Pure unadulterated awesomeness. For the first time in weeks I actually have a song running through my head. Where can I get an MP3 version to have on my player? Hell, where can I buy an album of this stuff?
Hey– the mp3 is up here: http://americansgoverning.com/declaration/
Let us know if you have any trouble with the download!
Melissa & Tim -
This is a brilliant first round with TJ & the Revo.. please do more along this line!
The message is so needed right now to look back at what this nation was founded upon, the original documents and intent of our founding fathers.
I have a site (RootsofLiberty.com) that will be launching in late March & I would love to have this as one of our top featured videos! I’ll contact your company by email to see if that’s doable.. Thanks!
I simply LOVE this video project you did on sooo many levels… ♥
Yes that is Mr. Jefferson as the lead singer, and a wonderful subtilty in the video as he was known for his playing of the violin. There are so many neat touches in the video like this. That is what makes it so well done.
Now I want an album and dvd of videos like this. Mayhaps, an updated rock opera version of ’1776′ done like this.
[...] hitting a chord with people who are upset with government (including Glenn Reynolds, Moe Lane and some others – I'm waiting for those on the left to catch [...]
This is such an awesome video Ive been telling everyone about it. Please do more! Being from the Schoolhouse Rock generation, I and my fellow GenXers know the power of telling the story of our country’s history through popular song and off beat viewpoints. We’d love to offer our kids the same kind of learning material.
I do have one EENSY little quibble and it was what I read in one of the educational documents you have listed in your demo about federalism – please please please remember what Ben Franklin told the woman who asked what kind of government they had when they were done hashing things out: a representative republic (if we could keep it) – NOT a democracy. Telling our kids we live in a ‘democracy’ is a lie. Our system of government has democratic processes, but we are at solid and functional heart, a Representative Republic.
Thanks for sharing your response to the video and issue with the federalism coverage, Sharon. We’ll take a close look. Political scientists (and I’ve double-checked with a number on this!) generally make a distinction between direct democracy– a means of governing the Founders didn’t generally like or trust– and representative democracy. Some of the checks the Founders initially put in place to ensure representative democracy have gone the way of the dodo–we popularly elect our senators now, for example. But others, like the Electoral College, remain, and of course we elect the state and federal representatives who draft legislation and serve as our (the citizens’) voice writ large. So, your point is an important one and I’ll see if the wording can more carefully emphasize this difference. Note that we work with political science instructors to create online educational materials for college-level students, so we present things as political scientists present and emphasize them to that audience.
Wow. I do wacky puppet shows about the Founding Fathers for kids and this just warms my heart. I got turned on to this era with the John Adams HBO special that Tom Hanks produced. This video is just more deliciousness.
Thank you for creating “cool” material to pass on a great message. Makes me want to have the declaration on my wall.
Go, Silence DoGoode. i.e. Ben Franklin in drag. Hee hee.
They are showing this video in classrooms across America…. Thanks so much for making this. Americans need to be reminded of America’s Greatness. And how truely great our founders were. Glad to see kids getting interested in the founding of this country. Thanks again.
Absolutley love this! Posted it to Facebook twice! We need more of this!
This is a fantastic video! I can’t wait to show it to my students! I hope that you create more great tools for the classroom!
I showed this video to my 10th grade government students last week. They made me show it to them twice the first day, twice on Friday, and once today, they love it!! They get a huge kick out of the founders turning into a hair band, but they have really paid attention to the words. I had just read them the Declaration a few days before I found the video, so it was a great tie in. Thank you so much, please keep things like this coming.
Some of the greatest teachers in the history of western civilization have also been entertaining at times.
This type of teaching tool revives that tradition.
We need more!
I wish we could have had something like this 30 years ago!
A wonderful job! Please pass my thanks and admiration on to everyone involved in production.
Found the download for the mp3. Any chance of the video being available at iTunes?
No plans for iTunes, at present. But we’re so glad you like the video!
Simply brilliant!
My only suggestion for improvement might have been to have Paul Revere play the violin on horseback.
Rick, you want us to add STUNT RIDING to the mix? (Yes, we’re loving the idea, but I’m worried about Paul Revere AND the horse.)
This is amazing. I cracked up when the wig flew off the mannequin.
Please Please Please keep these coming. My students thought this was the coolest thing they had ever scene. Make some for history from Jamestown through the Civil War. This kind of content is engaging and funny. Great work and look forward to checking out your website in the future!
In case anyone is interested, I embedded the video on my blog, along with some comments by Melissa, Nathan and Pammy.
http://the-porters-lodge.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-favourite-educational-video-of-year.html
AWESOME< I loved it
OH MY GOODNESS!!! Fantastic!!
I’m studying Professional and Technical Communication at ECU in NC. I’m taking grant-writing to produce an event concerning our local Rev. War History, learning techniques for writing techically, exploring intercultural communication, and public science writing. YOUR whole website is speaking to me today.
Make more videos!! I have to get back to my blog soon.
I teach American History. While my classes have already covered this subject, I just had to show them the video. They loved it!.
Simply amazing. Great to know that this land of ours was founded on these simple yet necessary “rights”. This is a legacy that’s necessary to pass down to our upcoming generation! Cudos guys! Awesome video! You speaks tons!
Darrell Castleberry/Biloxi, MS/Registered Nurse
This video is amazing. You, Sirs, have shown me exactly what I want to do with my Educational Design degree. I hope you publish more media like this. I showed it to a friend who used it in his high school history class, and the kids are still talking about it. Wonderful work.
I teach 9th grade World Studies (a combination of World Geography and World History) and we literally just started the revolutions this week. What perfect timing! And the kids loved it so much I used it as a bribe – if they worked well, I’d play it for them a second time at the end of class… and every class has seen it two times. Love it!
This is the best thing ever!!! The production values are wonderful!
Can you make this a regular thing?
Can you do more videos–make an album?
I think you should. This brought tears to my eyes–much more than the original.
I absolutely love this video! I am currently working on a history education degree in NC and this video will be used in my future classrooms for sure!! I have showed all my friends who aren’t big fans of history and they love it!!! Make more!
The AP Am. Hist. teacher sent this to me cuz he knows I’m a history geek. Saw it and then loved it so much I showed it to my 4th graders since we were just starting to learn about the decl. of indep. They LOVED it, and it has generated a lot of interest and research into anything related to that time period. We have now played it several times and they can’t get enough. Now the other teachers are using it, too, cuz my kids have been talking about it. Yesss! Love those teachable moments! Thanks!!!
I am a grade 5 student amd my history teacher, Patrick(HENREY) Wilsbach showed my class this, I was blown away. It totally went with the lesson.My comrads and I burst out laughing at the end when the men turn into a rock band!:)