History for Music Lovers on YouTube

An article in the Washington Post yesterday turned me on to an amazing creative effort developed by a couple of teachers in Hawaii.

History for Music Lovers on YouTube is song parody and remix at its most useful.  And you are going to want to share it with your history, and many of your other teachers, on Monday (or before).

The music parody portal was launched by clever and talented Amy Burvall, of the Le Jardin Academy in Kailua, Oahu, and Herb Mahelona, who used to work with her, at St. Andrew’s Priory in Honolulu.

I can see sharing and embedding these little videos as introductions to many of our world history units.  (They are captioned for reinforcing content as well as singing along.) I can also see using these as models for creative student research projects.

On another note, the so clever remixing here seems a cool way of examining transformativeness (repurposing and adding value) as it relates to fair use.

Here’s the very Pharaohlicious, Cleopatra:

And, here’s a sampling of the other 49 titles (and counting):

Illuminated Manuscripts (“Nowhere Man” by the Beatles

The Spanish Inquisition (“(Keep Feeling) Fascination” by The Human League)

Leonardo da Vinci (“Dear Prudence” as performed by Siouxsie and the Banshees)

Empress Theodora (“Norwegian Wood” by the Beatles)

The French Revolution (“Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga)

The Crusades (“Eyes Without a Face” by Billy Idol)

I’m a Knight (“Friday Night” by Lily Allen)

King Arthur (“Nature Boy” by Eden Ahbez)

Eleanor of Aquitaine (“Happy Ever After” by Julia Fordham)

Black Death (“Hollaback Girl” by Gwen Stefani)

Anne Boleyn (“Girl” by the Beatles)

The Divine Comedy (“Rapture” by Blondie)

The Olmecs (“September Gurls” by the Bangles)

Renaissance Man (“Blister in the Sun” by the Violent Femmes)

The Odyssey (“Across the Universe” by the Beatles)

Gladiator (“You Know I’m No Good” by Amy Winehouse)

Shakespeare (“Shayla” by Blondie)

Julius Caesar (“Besame Mucho” by the Beatles)

Ancient Minoan Civilization (“Creep” by Radiohead)

Attila the Hun (“Here Comes the Rain Again” by Eurythmics)

Greek Philosophers (“Can’t Get You Out of My Head” by Kylie Minogue)

Constantine (“Come On, Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners)

Battle of Agincourt (“As Tears Go By” by Marianne Faithful)

Gutenberg (“Sunday Girl” by Blondie)

Viva Roma No. V (“Mambo #5” by Lou Bega)

Mummification (“Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Green Day)

Elizabeth I (“She’s Not There” by the Zombies)

Mary, Queen of Scots (“Jenny from the Block” by Jennifer Lopez)

Macedonia (“My Sharona” by the Knack)

Cleopatra (“Fergilicious” by Fergie)

Filed under: copyright, fair use, history, research, video