Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn dazzle us with their ‘Final Countdown’ cover
If you’ve been dying to teleport back to the days of metal hair bands (and we know you have), today is your lucky day. Kind of.
In honor of The Onion’s A.V. Club video series, “Undercover,” banjo legend Béla Fleck and his wife Abigail Washburn, joined forces to cover the iconic ’80s classic, “The Final Countdown.” If “The Final Countdown” doesn’t sound familiar by name, hearing it will change everything.
Originally performed by the Swedish metal band Europe, back in 1986, “The Final Countdown” is by far one of the catchiest, most dramatic songs in music history. Even though “The Final Countdown” has been known to accompany numerous sporting events, we still can’t help but imagine a group of peroxide-blonde men in silk button down shirts, marching around with swords in their hands whenever we hear the song.
Unlike the synth-heavy original, Fleck and Washburn’s version is layered with soft, folksy melodies. The delicate tinkering of Fleck and Washburn’s banjos do a beautiful job of replacing the trumpeting synths and screaming guitars. Unexpected as this cover is, we can assure you, it’s absolutely dazzling.
Catch the beautiful performance, below. Oh, and in case you were wondering what’s going on with the hair in this video, Fleck and Washburn opted to wear ’80s themed wigs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5AsyuNia5Y
We dare you not to hum this song for the rest of the day.
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