Mel Brooks – To Be Or Not To Be (The Hitler Rap) Pts. 1&2

I was the tape op in the studio (Battery 1 in Willesden) where the guys, not Mel Brooks unfortunately, came in and did overdubs on this. Pete Wingfield wigging out on his Minimoog was definitely a highlight!

Ever wondered what a disco-rap record by The Fuhrer would sound like ? Of course, for such a cultural event to have occured, a subtle rewriting of history would be required, in two ways; a) Germany would have needed to have won the war, and b) Adolf would have required to have been convinced by, presumably, Josef Goebbels that he needed to make a disco-rap record in the early 80s to give himself a more 'hip' image to the ranks of the Hitler-jungen (and that's only if - and it's a big if - they were allowed to listen to music other than army marching music or Wagner; methinks disco may have been banned from the Third Reich, but we can only ponder)...Luckily, history turned out rather better, and neither of those events came to pass; can you imagine the horror if not ? Nazi-disco music - jeez !

So, the record...well, it's pure genius from Mr Brooks; like 'The Producers' before, how better to parody an odious ideology than by reducing it to a fun, catchy tune ? The Third Reich would have surely dissapproved (especially of the video, complete with camp SS officers, and suspender-clad beauties echoing 'Cabaret'), making this record all the more delicious. It's as good, if not better, than 'Springtime for Hitler' - the lyrics are wonderful (packed with cracking lines like "why don't we throw a little nazi party?" etc ) and, as a bonus, our Mel chucks in a potted history of Hitler's rise and fall, to boot (a jackboot, naturally).

It's the finest (and only, as far as I know) cod-disco/comedy/historical-satire record ever made....at a time when we are exposed yet again to the remnants of fascism (the BNP in the UK), this record all of a sudden seems rather relevant again - ok, it's musically dated (nothing a proper good dubstep version wouldn't sort, eh what ? Come on someone, sort it !), but the reduction of fascism by parody like this works so much better, it could be argued, than dry debate on the matter (though that has its place, too - having said that, have YOU ever tried debating with a fascist ? Is it me, or do they just not listen, having already made up their minds that they're right ? God, they can be real fascists, those Fascists, sometimes...)

Look. This record is great. And anyone who doesn't agree with me is just plain wrong. Fascist, moi ?