Watch Vladimir Putin deliver a pitch-perfect rendition of Radiohead hit ‘Creep’
In the years following Vladimir Putin’s initial invasion of Crimea in 2014, a swathe of political satire angled towards the power-drunk president hit the interweb. Naturally, an accompanying storm of conspiracy also greeted us online, one thing the social media bustle is good for. One such conspiracy claimed that because Radiohead singer Thom Yorke and President Putin share the birthday of October 7th, among a few other things, Putin and Yorke have a celestial bond. I mean, isn’t it a bit weird that both signed their first employment contracts at the age of 23, Putin with the KGB and Yorke with EMI?
In 2017, this conspiracy was taken a step closer to utter madness as a satirist presented Putin as Radiohead’s number-one fan. The viral video, seen below, shows Putin appearing to sing ‘Creep’ in a karaoke performance in front of a swarm of elated Russians. The overdubbed lyrics sync with the President’s lips as he sings: “I wish I was special,” and as he humbly admits, “I’m a creep,” and shrugs his shoulders.
The video was created using footage from a 2010 charity concert during which President Putin offered his lungs to a cover of the out Louis Armstrong/Fats Domino hit ‘Blueberry Hill’.
Radiohead’s fellow Abingdon School alumnus David Mitchell picked out ‘Creep’ during his appearance on BBC’s Desert Island Discs. The Peep Show star introduced it as “a brilliant song, but the words are so depressing, and I like to think of it as our school song. I would like one day, as a stunt, to arrange for all of the pupils in Abingdon School to stand up in chapel and sing an organ arrangement of this song.”
Indeed, I can imagine a choral rendition at a Dickensian British school to be quite humorous. Still, after watching the below video, I’m convinced ‘Creep’ fares even better as the anthem for a moribund dictatorship.
It sounds just about as barmy as the invasion. If the world is falling into a pit of apocalyptic despair, at least we can rejoice as we collectively marvel at this slice of golden satire.
