Watch: Stephen Colbert finds ‘Lord of the Rings’ reference in Chance the Rapper’s ‘Favorite Song’
Who knew ‘bang bang bang skeet skeet skeet’ could be redolent with literary and show-business references?
It turns out talk show host Stephen Colbert is not only a fan of hip-hop but also Lord of the Rings.
In Rolling Stone’s “Song Breakdown” video above, Colbert explains that he was struck by a thought while listening to a verse of Favorite Song by Chance the Rapper featuring Childish Gambino. He felt that the rhythm of the song borrows elements from the works of writer JRR Tolkien and Victorian-era dramatist-composer duo Gilbert and Sullivan.
This particular verse has the distinctive staccato flow and rhyme scheme of the song I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General by Gilbert and Sullivan from their 1879 opera The Pirates of Penzance, says Colbert. And he also found echoes of a poem from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
