Why Is Dirk Dinkum's Nigh-Unlistenable Villain Song 'Go Away' From 'The Garfield Show' Becoming A Meme?

For weeks now, a section of social media, particularly Twitter, has been obsessed with posting "Go Away" a song sung by The Garfield Show villain Dirk Dinkum. Unfortunately for everyone else, the song sounds like this:

What Is The Dirk Dinkum "Go Away" Meme?

"Go Away" comes from The Garfield Show, which, if you're unfamiliar, is a sort of 3D fever dream that ran for five seasons in the first half of the 2010s. In the late-series episode "Lion Queen: Welcome to Africa," villain Dirk Dinkum, who appeared sparingly throughout the show, gets to sing a song about how much he enjoys being evil. Dinkum, an Australian poacher, doesn't so much sing the song as bleats it in a thick, Australian, tuneless accent.

The tune lived in obscurity until earlier this month when Twitter user @n64cartridges said they had stumbled upon it and had to share its oddness with the world.

What followed was a veritable run on Dirk Dinkum posting, as users began reposting the video and ironically debating the villainy of Dirk Dinkum. Over the next week, Dinkum and his tune appeared in remixes, role-play posts, and image macros as a certain subsect of Twitter anointed its new meme.

Why Is Dirk Dinkum's "Go Away" A Meme?

Meme vets will note that villain songs from children's media are often tremendous fodder for memes. One needs only to remember the "We Are Number One" craze from 2016 to understand the potential a good villain song can have in memedom. In response to the popularity of that meme, there was a surge of memes that involved remixing children's media songs in various ways that made them increasingly broken.

It appears the "Go Away" craze is fueled in part by nostalgia for that late 2010s era. Videos editing "Go Away" in meme templates from then began appearing on YouTube in the wake of the song's popularity, including a Keeps Getting Faster remix and a Slowed + Reverb mix.

While it remains to be seen if "Go Away" can reach the heights of its predecessors, it seems unlikely. Variations of the meme haven't come close to the stats achieved by the likes of "We Are Number One" memes, and the height of "Villain Song" remixes is long gone. Furthermore, while "Go Away" is infectious, even those who enjoy the meme are conceding that the song isn't exactly the banger that "We Are Number One" was. Dinkum's harsh performance makes the song difficult to listen to in meme after meme, which may put a ceiling on how far the meme can go.

For more information, check out Dirk Dinkum 'Go Away' on Know Your Meme.