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The Schmooze

Happy New Year, Gangnam Style

The Jewish New Year is the time for Jews everywhere to look inward and ask those meaningful questions: What does God want of me? Have I been the best me? What exactly does Gangnam actually mean?

The Internet can’t answer all these, but thankfully, it can provide us with Gangnam Style, a Korean pop song gone viral, as well as hundreds of Gangnam Style riffs and spoofs. In a Jewish tradition dating back to the very inception of time — or, at least, YouTube — a Jewish singer has picked up the song and turned it into a nice Jewish song. This time, aptly, it’s about Rosh Hashanah, and the singer is Eric Niederman, a comedian from New York. He calls the song “Rosh Hashanah Style.”

Niederman’s song had only gotten 9,000 views in its first four days — compare that to the original song’s 221 million views in two months — and got mixed reviews in the comments (recent comments include “ur a disgrace” and “EPIC!”). Of course, it’s hard to match up to the bizarrely hilarious horse-riding dance moves of Psy, Gangnam Style’s Korean singer, and his catchy lyrics (the only discernable words of which are “Heyyyyy sexy lady!”) and you can’t blame a guy for trying.

When you’re done with that, make sure you see Britney Spears rockin’ the horse dance in stilettos with Psy and Ellen DeGeneres. It’s sure to start your year off right.

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