"The Wellerman" by Leo

 

There are sleeper hits, and then there are Rip Van Winkle sleeper hits.

"The Wellerman," a shanty believed to originate with whalers in 19th century New Zealand, is roughly the Kiwi CliffsNotes version of "Moby Dick."

The song spent almost two centuries wallowing in relative obscurity before Airdrie, Scotland folk singer Nathan Evans became a viral sensation via the TikTok platform with his version in 2020.

Norwegian metal musician Leo Moracchioli (under the name Leo, which is much easier to spell than his full name) blasts through his adaptation with the power of a thousand harpoon guns.

While musically on point, Leo obviously doesn't take himself too seriously, as evidenced by his simulated lovemaking with a floor tom less than a minute into this video.

And, I won't spoil it, but the 1:19 mark of the video is comedy gold.  Gold.