The Voices Of 'Animaniacs' Plan A World Tour, Including An Update Of 'Yakko's World' Song & More
In case you haven't heard, the Netflix line-up just got a little sweeter on April 1st with all the episodes of the animated series Animaniacs available to stream. The cartoon followed the wacky adventures of the Warner brothers, Yakko and Wakko, and their sister Dot. It was a favorite of children of the '90s, as the show often available to watch right after school and on Saturday mornings. Though the series may best be known for bringing us unlikely rat duo of Pinky and the Brain, who eventually got their own spinoff series, perhaps the most iconic thing to come out of the show was "Yakko's World."
Airing in the second episode of the show's debut season, the animated musical segment features Yakko Warner (voiced by Rob Paulsen, who has voiced both Raphael and Donatello in different iterations of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) singing almost all of the nation's of the world as he points them out on a map, all to the tune of "Mexican Hat Dance." It's become a popular way for kids to learn the countries, and it's a damn catchy and informative song. Now it will be updated because the voices of Animaniacs are going on a world tour where they will sing that song and many others from the show.
Learn more about Yakko's World and the Animaniacs tour after the jump.
Just to get it out of the way, so we're all on the same page, here's "Yakko's World" from YouTube:
Over the years, several discrepancies have been brought up with regards to the song. First of all, countries not covered in the lyrics include South Africa, Singapore, Brunei, Cote d'Ivoire, Central African Republic, San Marino, Vatican City and more. Furthermore, there are names mentioned that aren't countries, and they even repeat some just to make rhyming a little easier. I mean, it's really hard to have a song list all of the nations of the world an actually rhyme, so they employed some tricks.
But another problem nowadays with the song, according to The New York Times, is that it was written before 1991, which is when the Soviet Union broke up. Therefore, countries such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan don't get called out. And there are several similar exclusions following nations formed after the break-up of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
Therefore, the song will be updated by writer Randy Rogel (Batman: The Animated Series), who wrote it as part of his audition for Animaniacs, to include a verse that will add any nations that have been formed since the song was written. And fans will get to hear it firsthand when Rob Paulsen (Yakko), Jess Harnell (Wakko) and Tress MacNeille (Dot) go on a world tour to perform "Yakko's World" along with their 50 state capitals tune and another that looks back at all the U.S. presidents.
This isn't the first time the voice actors have performed live, since they sang songs, including the theme, with a full orchestra in Colorado back in 2014:
As of now, there are no specifics on when and where this Animaniacs tour will begin, but it certainly sounds like it's going to be a great blast from the past, just with some updates. Whenever details and dates for the Animaniacs tour are made available, we'll be sure to let you know.