Henrietta and Merna's enthusiastic Christmas cheer is positively infectious. (Via Arbroath)

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Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Purly

I can’t tell if they’re stoned or abused.
Antinous

I expect to see that bouquet dissolve in the next episode.
Marsha Keeffer

They’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in their hearts…
Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

Anonymous @56, that link brought me True Joy, and has been added to my collection of unicorn chasers.

Thank you.
Anonymous

Wonderful! Here is equally fascinating version of the same song in Estonian language:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XzU5ZxQkF0
Takuan

so, what you are saying is you will select a victim – I mean “song”, and then have everyone send in WAV files of their ” contribution” to it,and then you will do a final mix and post it here….

I fear.
kpkpkp

So when does the next season of Big Love start?
TheWillow

Someone can find the direct quote, but to paraphrase Eddie Izzard, only Christians can write a hallelujah and make it sound like a funeral dirge.
Bonnie

Xeni and Sean Bonner need to reenact this for the next episode of Boing Boing TV.
jimh

Having grown up in the bible belt, I’ve been to the Sadie Hawkins dance with the young one. And also to third base. I’m betting she’s a wild child when she’s not on Christian public access.
jahknow

Fixed:

http://james.nerdiphythesoul.com/bennyhillifier/?id=gg7uGL6Ku20
jrucifer

Are you sure this isn’t a clip from Tim and Eric Awesome Show?
Phikus

If the holy spirit fails to inspire, I think I know what will.
2HourHiatus

well I am filled with joy, I don’t know about you guys. I also think I hate music now.
RationalPragmatist

That demonstration of stage presence was electrifying. Settle down, you two. You’re gonna set the place on fire. I had to restrain myself from starting a one man mosh pit here at my PC.

I am now forced to revise my list of greatest, high energy music performers as follows: (1) HR – Bad Brains; (2) Ian Mackaye – Minor Threat; (3) Henrietta and Merna (replacing Henry Rollins from Black Flag).
Takuan

I’m pretty sure that was the first use ever of “dirty pillows”.
GeekMan

So SCOWLY…
Anonymous

This made me so horny. Is that wrong?
Anonymous

You will never mock filk again after posting this.

Seriously, compare this to any Tom Smith out there.
Secret_Life_of_Plants

As William S. Burroughs said, in his
“Thanksgiving Prayer”

[Thanks] For decent church-goin’ women,
with their mean, pinched, bitter,
evil faces.
toolbag

Merna looks like she’s being forced to sing at gunpoint.
Patrick Dodds

There is so much about this that is frightening.
demidan

They made baby Cheeses cry.
zog

That slap bass teh funk
jmullan

What does this have to do with Christmas?
Permanganate

I want a wee bit of whatever drugs they are on.
arkizzle

Cowicide@72

Cow, I noticed your Disco Remix doesn’t use the original singing, so I made another soundtrack remix for it. it’s got the singing from the original video and a housey/techno beat under it.

I thought you could use it on the Disco one, or maybe do a new composite altogether. Give it a shot :)

File is here.
Takuan

why not, that Merna has her attributes.
anjael

Attempted smile @ 0:53.
Chocolatey Shatner

Merna looks a little like she is trying to set Henrietta on fire with her mind.
dirtdirt

There’s got to be a big budget Hollywood studio behind this. Writers and craftspeople, and musicians, and sociologists spending months and months working out the details. There’s just no way this could have occurred naturally.
Xeni Jardin

Nice work Arkizzle and Cowicide!

Holy crap you guys, BB pal Calpernia Addams managed to bluescreen herself into the video WITH FIDDLE.

http://bit.ly/15GwG
TheBlessedBlogger

I grew up in a small town in Kentucky and this is giving me serious flashbacks lol. If I had to guess, I’d say poor Merna was forced to do that. Wow, I’m so glad I’m not going home for Christmas.
Xeni Jardin

@arkizzle, holy shit i just downloaded — SICK. You guys are genii.
Takuan

Zizzle, I can see you with laptop on shoulder straps and karaoke machine on back, pulling a little wagon of batteries. You’ll always have work.
Takuan

OK now Xeni, this is getting out of hand…
han

I think their Christmas spirit is broken.
arkizzle

Hah! Thanks Xeni!

Takuan, that is so, so close to a perfect description of the last 10 years of my life.. a wandering bitsmith.
dbarak

You’ve all been fooled. Those are Satan’s minions, placed here to divert your attention from the one and true lord, Steve Jobs.
arkizzle

The violin one is equal parts hilarious and terrifying :)
Red Leatherman

I just wanna yeeeeeehaaaaw while I watch it.
yeah buddy, Henrietta and Merna is why god made tequila.
emmaw

And again we are reminded of the pitiful state of music education in the US. My high school choral director is spinning in her grave.
teapot7

Ouch. You can tell the younger one isn’t armed – she looks like she wants nothing more than to shoot herself.
FoetusNail

Home at last, with a sleeping family and a fifteen year old in my hand, in a glass, scotch.
Takuan

I bet I could get them to sing. A warm spring day in the hills, redolent of jasmine and lambs-wool,a jug of good red and my pipes, a hoof-tapping tune and we’d away…
darren

I’ll bet Merna likes to party.
Takuan

ahhhhh
Pam Rosengren

They remind me of Australia’s famous Kransky Sisters http://www.thekranskysisters.com/ – except the Kransky Sisters know they are a comedy act.
Dani4a

That’s… horrifying.
g.park

Uncle Muscles Hour?
Antinous

Maybe…they’re zombies.
arkizzle

Right, I was impatient, so I threw a quick video together for the:

Techno Remix !!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KGQeNJrOsFs

Feel free to use the soundtrack I posted to make a better vid..

CC, non-commercial, attribution :)
minTphresh

are u cats kiddin me? those chicks smolder. SMOLDER I SAY! no trailer park could hold these two ! it would melt to a puddle of molten aluminum!
That Evening Sun

Do you know why Henrietta and Merna think a lady should never make love while standing up?

It looks too much like dancing.
Mark Frauenfelder

It’s fun to compare: http://xrl.us/7funi
minTphresh

also, merna +50 for the ultimate fe-mullet! those bangs are precious!
Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

Arkizzle: Bravo! Did you clean up the sound quality while you were at it? I can hear the intro more clearly in your version.

Xeni, tell Calpernia I admired her matching fiddle backup. It was scary and true.
Takuan

verra nice! Rachel’s a talent though.
cowmix

This looks like every cable public access show I ever was a part of.
NJ

****ers like these sang at my Dad’s Funeral.
pigsnot

Merna is hot…..shes the one on the left right?
Mark Frauenfelder

My favorite comment on the Police News Online story:

“I would be interested in the Police Officers’ side of the story. Not all 12 year old girls are children, either in age or size.” — Rose Granholm, Bastrop, Texas
Cowicide

The inevitable REMIX of this video has been made.

I’d like to thank God for making them shoot their original video on a blue screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsiW635atrs
Antinous

Who says that YouTube comments are always bad?

Jesus died for their singing.
mercurytransit

Wow, that totally unreminds me of this:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RFzyYYZsxGc
Takuan

whoops, ya mislaid one Mark
arkizzle

Yay! Thanks T.
I did clean it up, not extremely well in fairness, but denoised and compressed enough to not annoy.
rose bush

this is THE best christmas present a grrrl could EVER ask for! merci
the real gent

i love america!

those two fine upstanding ladies were just feared for their lives. there must be a snake-charmer around there somewhere.
timquinn

Well, I’m thinking that Merna can sing out when mom isn’t around. Maybe a different choice of material though . . .
davevontexas

Yes, Virginia, this is where goth girls come from.
jonjonz

The one on the right reminds me of “Carrie”,
talk about repressed.
Cowicide

More festive REMIX, now with DISCO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhsLpWGc53k
Anonymous

Alas, a right click to select “high quality”, didn’t.
Tom Hale

The one on the right is cute – maybe a little damaged, but cute.
JJR1971

The way Merna is holding her other arm, the bored expression on her face, all say she wishes she was someplace, anywhere else than singing on this dumb show, and is just wanting it to be over with so she can leave the building, and eventually leave the po-dunk town she lives in and probably feels trapped in.

I wonder if her folks or her pastor gave her a lecture about failing to show the proper spirit of joy about Jesus on cable access tv…then again, Henrietta wasn’t exactly vivacious or expressive either.

It’s too bad that Henrietta got the better name of the pair; Merna just sounds so….OLD for a young teen or 20-something. If it wasn’t clearly spelled out, I would’ve guessed the act was Merna and Henrietta, not the other way around.
Setharian

I’ve seen forced hostage statements that were happier than that.
Halloween Jack

Leslie Hall called, she wants her sweater back. Also her glasses. Also her shtick.
CalperniaAddams

Ok, the die has been cast. The “Out with Henrietta, Faux-lesbian seduction of Merna” Remix Meltdown:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq2Vnah7xe8

The mp3(s): http://www.calpernia.com/music/free-music-downloads.html

Fiddle Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KQw26ZqsUQ

No mp3 for that one. I’m not completely cruel.

I am officially sick of “Go Tell It On the Mountain” now, ha ha.
desiredusername

That there is some deep American gothic. The choice of songs and the beautiful ivory-skinned young woman with amazing snake-like eyes spell a fermenting brew of dark country misery and rote faithful yearning.

How architypically delicious!
Shrdlu

I think they both need a little diversity in their gene pool.
Maddy

I love the dissolve on the flower bouqet to bring us to the glorious noise …
Takuan

mmmm, glabrous….with rythmn….
Kieran O’Neill

Lol – Merna is kinda cute, in a pouty Drew Barrymore kinda way. The faux lesbian seduction is much needed!

I love the BB community interaction on this. It’s like we’ve become Something Awful…
DeWynken

I dropped X with Merna at a rave in 1994. Don’t let her fool ya, she’s a freak.
Anonymous

I was actually hoping to get rick-rolled.
Johnny Cat

Pigsnot, if you’re lovin the coven, I think it’s best that you go tell it on the mountain.
tboot

If you look closely, you can see a man holding a gun to their heads right off camera.
redsquid

DeWynken-
‘I dropped X with Merna at a rave in 1994. Don’t let her fool ya, she’s a freak.’

I was gonna say ‘smoked ice all weekend at a truckstop in 03′, but yes, she is indeed a freak. Well played.
graphicsman

@Zog – you’re right, man – that bassist has Teh Skillz!
uh… which one’s Henrietta and which one’s Merna? That’s never really cleared up, it’s like an awesome cliffhanger…
Takuan

something awfully wonderful or something wonderfully awful? Or just full of awe and wonder?
Superfluous Moniker

Oh man, I need a unicorn chaser after seeing that…
Johnny Cat

Love the use of switching/dissolving shots. Fantastic journeys over Henrietta’s head to another angle. So happy, so happy. So unearthly happy.
Awemaker

I feel like I’ve been Rick Rolled.
Antinous

You are soooo going to hell.
Antinous

I’ll get us a good table if I get there first.
Xeni Jardin

Boing Boing tv should look and sound more like this.

Henrietta and Merna sing "Go Tell It On The Mountain"

Read more in Music at Boing Boing

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