Old Pop in an Oak

This was Rednex' follow-up to their first single, "Cotton Eye Joe," a techno embellishment of an old American folk song. They followed a similar formula, and got similar results - the song was very successful in Europe. In was written and produced by Pat Reiniz of Rednex, who told the story in a Songfacts interview: "When writing it, I was determined to use the same phonetics as in 'Cotton Eye Joe' (which I came to regret later) as an exercise to better understand what made the song sound 'folky.' So first the words were chosen (out of a long list of options with the same phonetics), then afterwards a 'meaning' was attached to them and later a whole lyric was written. The story is that Old Pop is being chased up the oak by an angry grandma for doing some mischief by the BBQ."

Rednex is a group of Swedish producers who adopted an American country yokel aesthetic after they came up with "Cotton Eye Joe." Their female vocalist, Annika Ljungberg ("Mary Joe"), really sang on their records, but the male voice in the studio was Göran Danielsson, who was portrayed by Anders Arstrand ("Ken Tacky"). After "Old Pop In An Oak," they had another European hit with "Wish You Were Here," co-produced by a young Max Martin.

The music video was shot at a studio in Stockholm. It shows Anders Arstrand in a birdcage and is set in the American Southwest, complete with cacti. The guy in the wheelchair is Göran Danielsson, the real voice on the song; the record company insisted he be in the video because of the scandals from a few years earlier (Milli Vanilli, C + C Music Factory) where the real vocalists were portrayed by others in the videos. Danielsson, though, is never seen singing in the clip.