Badger Badger Badger

Badgers (aka "Badger Badger Badger") is a Macromedia Flash animation by Jonti Picking, the creator of Weebl and Bob, consisting mainly of images of badgers doing calisthenics, a mushroom in front of a tree, and a snake in the desert.

Lyrics

The lyrics of the animation are set to a gabber-style techno music loop written by Jonti. The first snake line in the lyrics is under wide dispute; various interpretations include "Argh! It's a snake", "Argh snake! Argh snake!", and "Panic - a snake!". Jonti himself says that the line is "Argh snake! Argh snake!"

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A few people claim that the lyrics actually say "Magic" instead of "Badger", but careful listening reveals that this is plainly not the case. The words are more distinct on the CD version of "Badger Badger Badger" which was published on the album Pure Yak Frenzy by Weebl and Chums (Jonti and Rob Manuel).

Related Topics:
Pure Yak Frenzy - Rob Manuel

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There is some contention that rather than "Badger" the words are actually "Badgers", plural. However, the most common belief is that "Badger" is in the singular. (It is also possible that the song switches between the two.) Stanzas 2—4 contain only eleven repetitions of "Badger" rather than the regular twelve due to a beat being skipped between the mushroom scene and the badger scene. The sound between the beats is thought to be either an intake of breath or the indefinite article "a".

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The audio doesn't match up exactly with the visuals. This becomes plainly discernible after 30 minutes of continuous playing. At this point, the audio is at the twelfth "badger" in the first line while the visuals show the mushroom. Over the next few hours, the visuals continue to play faster than the audio, achieving maximum separation at 4 hours 12 minutes. Thereafter the gap begins to close, and becomes synchronized again at about 8 hours 30 minutes. This process continues cyclically.

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Football Badgers

During Euro 2004, Jonti released a special edition called Football Badgers to support the England team. The badgers are seen wearing England shirts and playing football, scoring endless goals against a snake goalkeeper. Instead of "badger badger badger", we hear "footy footy footy", "England England!", "Goal, it's a goal, Ooh it's a goal! England England England...", etc. Each time England scores a goal, the animation displays England's score increased by one, essentially showing how many times the animation has looped.

Related Topics:
Euro 2004 - England team

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Christmas Badgers

On Christmas Eve, 2004, Jonti released another special edition of Badgers for a Samsung Advent calendar screensaver, for which he made one animation for each of the 24 days before Christmas. "Christmas Badgers" was the animation for December 24. The badgers are dancing while wearing Santa suits; then there are presents under a tree; and then the exclamation "Hallelujah!" appears, followed by a baby Jesus. The lyrics go "Santa Santa Santa", "Presents, presents!", and "Christ! It's a Christ! Ooh, it's a Christ..."

Related Topics:
Christmas Eve - 2004 - Samsung - Advent calendar - Screensaver - Christmas - December 24 - Santa - Hallelujah - Baby Jesus - Christ

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Pure Yak Frenzy

Through the Weebl and Bob web-store, Jonti released a CD titled Pure Yak Frenzy containing extended versions of the music from several of his animations, including Badger Badger Badger. (The CD is only referred to on the store page as Weebl and Chums Audio CD, possibly because some viewers wrongly thought that the mention of "Yak" was a reference to Jeff Minter, but the title remains printed on the CD) The extended version of the original song appears as the first track: it begins with a section with only the drums and bass, followed by the song as heard in the Flash movie. The song is then repeated with a phasing effect applied, followed by a short instrumental bridge before the original song is repeated for a third time.

Related Topics:
Weebl and Bob - Jeff Minter

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Later printings of the CD also included, as the last track, a remixed version (simply titled Badger Remix) which retained the same chord structure but radically altered the rhythm (it is somewhat slower) and lyrics. This version is not at present known to be available anywhere other than on the CD. (It does not match any of the various "badger remixes" written by third parties.)

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