William S just sent me this amazing video. Basically, someone has taken an innocent song from Sesame Street, and added BLEEPS. Interestingly, we are so used to hearing BLEEPS cover up profanities that we start to hear parts of rude words that are not actually there.…
Did you hear them? Should children be allowed to listen to the clip?
Update: Oh, and here is the monkey goat video that I sent out on Twitter yesterday and has proved something of a hit….
November 3, 2009 at 6:43 am |
Awesome. I’ve seen similar things in the past. Our brain is absolutely trained to replace bleeps with profanity, but it does provide some humorous bits like this video.
Bara
November 3, 2009 at 7:42 am |
That’s hilarious and strangely disturbing.
November 3, 2009 at 8:34 am
Ditto.
November 3, 2009 at 7:54 am |
[...] What the bleep‽ I must be a bad person to laugh at this … ☺ http://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/what-the-bleep/ [...]
November 3, 2009 at 8:01 am |
Similar thing happened when I heard a song on the radio one morning and I’d been used to hearing the unedited CD album version…
The radio bleeped the major swear (‘She f***ing hates me’) – but my brain automatically replaced the original swear on the bleep – causing me to really think “did they just play that line straight?”
November 3, 2009 at 8:05 am |
What the BLEEP? « Richard Wiseman’s Blog…
6AXPnH0C9UA…
November 3, 2009 at 8:33 am |
The guys from the radio show “I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again” did this many years ago with a selection of songs known as the “Julie Andrews Song Book”. You’ll never be able to watch the sound of music the same way again.
November 3, 2009 at 8:59 am |
that’s incredible.
November 3, 2009 at 9:02 am |
I tried to listen very carefully – I may be mistaken, but I think the BLEEP has been copied from an actual bleeping-out of a rude word. There seems to be a clearly audible hint of an “f” at the beginning of the bleep. A kind of “fBLEEP”, rather than a pure tone. Worth repeating the experiment with a BLEEP from scratch.
November 3, 2009 at 9:28 am
I think you might be right. Or is that just an illusion? I’m going to try and track down an original version of the song and add tone-beeps in myself to see if I can recreate the effect of the f..k sounds. I’ll be really impressed if this is just an illusion too.
Then again, C-bleep-T would be a naughty word too, so why wouldn’t we naturally hear that. Makes me suspicious that the conspicuous F and K sounds are cheated in there.
Will investigate and report back.
November 3, 2009 at 9:42 am
You might be right. Sometimes I hear a f_BLEEP_k, that can’t be achieved by pure bleeps. If some one wants to add simple bleeps to the original:
Original version with “count” not *Bleep*:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FL99ESjnZg
Looking forward to your results!
November 3, 2009 at 11:51 am
Yes, I can hear the hint of a plosive K at the end, but hey, who cares, it’s damn funny!
November 3, 2009 at 12:11 pm
@Katy, I heard that too. However, it’s plausible that this is a variant of the McGurk effect. Except in this case, rather than our expectations being influenced by what we see (as in the McGurk effect), our expectations are influenced by our experience of BLEEPs in other contexts.
Or maybe there really is a bit of a [k] there. We’ll see.
And yes, regardless of the explanation, it’s a hilarious video.
November 3, 2009 at 6:17 pm
I heard f-sounds too, but wondered if hissing on the audio track might be a factor.
November 3, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Yep, messed around with this at work (I’m a sound engineer) and I can confirm that the ‘f’ and ‘k’ sounds are definitely edited on.
Bit of a shame, but still a pretty funny video.
Oh yeah, and I see from the other comments that the creator of the video has confirmed this. Oh well.
November 3, 2009 at 9:13 am |
That’s BLEEPing awesome ^_^’
November 3, 2009 at 9:24 am |
There’s a classic one done with John Denver that Danny Baker played on the radio some time ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soJejdVGT2Q
One of the funniest things I’ve heard.
November 3, 2009 at 10:07 am |
This used to be a popular game on “I’m Sorry I Haven’t a clue” called Self Censored Songs. It was uproariously funny at times.
November 3, 2009 at 10:21 am |
Are you sure that it is an illusion? The count looks lacking in moral fibre.
November 3, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Times have changed. The Count is just getting hip to the currently popular portrayal of vampires as insufferable douchebags. So be careful, or he’ll ***** you, too!
November 5, 2009 at 12:46 am
I belive it is an illusion. It has a f sound in the beginning and a k sound at the end. Although, the word might have just been count?
November 3, 2009 at 10:56 am |
I’d be interested too in an independent replication. However, it’s not beyond plausibility to me (as a speech scientist) that we could re-cast some other sound as an [f] when that’s what we expect. Acoustically, a slight inhalation, or even the aspiration (burst of air) following the [k] might do the trick.
Of course, it’s also possible that the person who bleeped this track cheated.
I recommend, to whoever is trying this, that you play around with the starting position of the bleep, to see if there is a sweet spot where the [f] magically seems to appear.
November 3, 2009 at 1:02 pm |
omg, i so heard them. laughing so hysterically i’d be all red if it were physically possible.
November 3, 2009 at 4:12 pm |
Baha, that was hilarious – did my best not to laugh out loud in the coffeeshop.
When I’m alone I ____ myself?
November 3, 2009 at 4:24 pm |
I think it would be no problem to show this to children.
I even can think of a valid reason why it would be not a problem.
It reminds me of an optical illusion experiment they did. It was a picture where were two adults naked in a erotic pose and when you looked it at the other way there were 9 dolphins.
Adults usually saw naked people, children usually saw dolphins. So I would think the same would happen here with children. They would recognize this as vulgar.
November 3, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Sorry… I meant “They wouldn’t recognize this as vulgar.”
November 3, 2009 at 5:28 pm |
All episodes of Sesame Street should be bleeped! That was brilliant.
November 3, 2009 at 5:43 pm |
Scott Mills – Innuendo Bingo
November 3, 2009 at 5:58 pm |
My boyfriend bought a ‘Count with the count’ t-shirt just because of the absolute genius of this video. Love how everyone instantly places the f word instead of the beep when it could be any profanity, and i love how the f word works absolutely perfectly in this song.
e.g. “when i’m alone i *bleep* myself” haha!
November 3, 2009 at 5:59 pm |
funny. All I heard was a perfectly good morse code message messed up by some dude singing all over the top of it!
November 3, 2009 at 6:00 pm |
oh! this is now my favourite video of all time! i couldn’t stop laughing!!!
November 3, 2009 at 6:53 pm |
The person who bleeped the count song (Lemon Demon) made this awesome song (with accompanying flash video) http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/285267
November 3, 2009 at 7:18 pm |
This isn’t quite as good as it first seems,the guy did edit in ‘f’ and ‘k’ sounds,he owns up to it here in his live journal comments.
http://trapezzoid.livejournal.com/167510.html?thread=8080726#t8080726
Still bleeping amusing though……..
November 3, 2009 at 10:03 pm |
Jimmy Kimmel does a bit on his show called “Unnecessary Censorship”. Google for some hilarious clips.
November 3, 2009 at 10:23 pm |
Who cares about seasmie street?… That goat is tight rope walking!??!
November 3, 2009 at 10:29 pm |
Similarly, someone did a bleeping-out of the Windows 7 party hints video.
Whenever I see an uncensored video with Gordon Ramsay I find it really weird when he swears and it’s not bleeped out.
November 3, 2009 at 10:49 pm |
I’m a big fan of your work but was rather disappointed to see the lack of thought in promoting a piece of animal exploitation. What may often appear as a bit of fun doesn’t reveal the full picture of a lifetime of often harsh captivity, cramped and disgusting living conditions and cruel punishments when animals don’t perform on cue. Please don’t support this kind of *Bleep* *Bleep*
Check out http://www.peta.org.uk/ for more info on ending suffering and exploitation.
Thanks and keep writing, (enjoying 59 seconds)
November 4, 2009 at 12:59 am |
A friend and I did this decades ago with Rolf Harriss’ Two Little Boys:
Two little boys had two little ****
Each had a wooden ****
Gaily they ****, each summer’s day; ****** but of course
…
(you get the idea.)
These days of course, one might get into trouble with this particular song…..
November 4, 2009 at 1:29 am |
[...] What the BLEEP? William S just sent me this amazing video. Basically, someone has taken an innocent song from Sesame Street, and [...] [...]
November 4, 2009 at 8:07 am |
Sesame street,… I like This,….
Happy nice day
November 4, 2009 at 12:18 pm |
I worry about how the goat might have been persuaded to perform in such a way. I’m not sure if the stick the woman is brandishing has anything to do with it.
November 4, 2009 at 4:34 pm |
HAHAHAHAHAHA! I have not laughed this much in ages! What an awesome video!
November 4, 2009 at 6:17 pm |
[...] the BLEEP? Bei Richard Wiseman fand ich dieses interessante und lustige Video von Graf Zahl. Hier wurde das unschuldige Zähllied [...]
November 4, 2009 at 6:21 pm |
[...] the BLEEP? Bei Richard Wiseman fand ich dieses interessante und lustige Video von Graf Zahl. Hier wurde das unschuldige Zähllied [...]
November 4, 2009 at 7:33 pm |
This is most probably the best thing i have ever seen. the goat….. not so much. but the *bleeping* count was fan*bleeping*tastic.
November 4, 2009 at 8:07 pm |
The that ***ing song is great!
(see what I did there?)
Reminds me of Armando Iannucci’s clips (might have been on “Time Trumpet” on the BBC) of David Cameron talking about some Labour C*ts.
I’ve seen arguments started in forums too where replacing swear words with *’s makes things look so much worse.
You knob! (relatively harmless)
becomes
You ****!
November 4, 2009 at 8:25 pm |
There’s something about corrupting children’s entertainers that’s inherently appealing.
As ably demonstrated by the cast of Rainbow:
No beeps required (made by the cast for a laugh):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kclq2zGQy4w&NR=1
Make sure you put your **bleeping** toys away! (edited & beeps added)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWIlBqUNbZU&feature=related
A nice Re-dubbed clip:
November 5, 2009 at 1:23 am |
Thanks! That had me in STITCHES!
November 5, 2009 at 1:28 am |
PS. The monkey goat clip is not so funny when you know the truth behind it… I watched the same act live once and the goat was shaking. She guy standing below him is stood there with a whip which gets ‘cracked’ against the ground to frighten the goat into submission if it doesn’t perform the trick
I walked out of the circus when I saw it, because they were clearly using the fear of the animal to get it to submit to doing something that it clearly didn’t want to.
I would personally prefer that you removed the latter video, as it offended me when I saw it performed, and would hate to think that it would encourage people to endorse that treatment of animals
November 5, 2009 at 2:45 am |
The goat was cute! Mountain goats are amazingly sure footed.
And ofcourse when animals are trained they are beaten. Thats what happens in circuses. Just the carrot approach is unlikely to be used.
November 5, 2009 at 3:08 am |
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November 5, 2009 at 8:27 am |
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November 5, 2009 at 9:37 am |
hmm… really nice… VERY informative
November 5, 2009 at 10:17 am |
ahaha! wonderful!! brilliant! especially the lat one with goat and monkey!!
November 5, 2009 at 10:18 am |
Animal exploitation. Classy.
November 6, 2009 at 3:21 am |
I find the goat and monkey video disturbing, especially since at the end of a run they stick the monkey’s head through a hole in a table and the trainer eats its brains. (The goat is harder to replace.)
November 8, 2009 at 1:08 am |
Well I think goats should be naturally good at balancing in rocky terrains, but this kind of exploitation of animals makes me sad. I probably am an hypocrite because I enjoy eating meat, which is probably more cruel, but this looks so useless and gratuitous…
November 8, 2009 at 4:02 pm |
The Count has always been one of my favourites and now he has me rolling with laughter. But the beautiful goat so cruelly treated for entertainment. I couldn’t watch for long. I too would be happier if it was removed from your otherwise fun and interesting site.
November 9, 2009 at 12:54 pm |
Thanx alot for this post
مدونة
November 14, 2009 at 12:41 am |
nice article……
keep it up…….
November 14, 2009 at 12:42 am |
Ahahahaha! “I BLEEP slowly, slowly, getting faster”. Ahahahaha! That was amazing
November 15, 2009 at 4:17 pm |
Amazing goat video, it clearly shows how much more evolved a goat is versus humans when it comes to balance.
November 18, 2009 at 11:09 am |
love this shit
December 8, 2009 at 3:45 pm |
Russian voices:)) Very funny comments!
December 14, 2009 at 2:20 pm |
The goat video is very disturbing and makes for quite uncomfortable viewing. I have often seen them on almost vertical cliffs. Their balance is extraordinary. However, I wouldn’t be happy watching something like that. I couldn’t make it through to the end of this video.
December 18, 2009 at 9:51 pm |
[...] ahí, tiene una pequeña trampa. Como el autor confirma en su propio blog (encontré el enlace en los comentarios de una entrada en el blog de Richard Wiseman, quien publicó el vídeo a principios de noviembre), I took the extra time to add the F and CK [...]
December 22, 2009 at 3:58 pm |
HOW HOW HOW ???????????????????????????????