There was a post on Boingboing a short time ago about someone sending some bad lyrics in to one of the song poem houses, and posted the performance they got back. That person linked to this documentary, which is available on youtube, on PBS's official account.
Song-poems are described as a scam, but I have a hard time thinking of them that way. They're a business that solicits people to send in their poems, and have them set to music, for a fee. The reason it gets described as a scam is a problem with how the organizations advertised the service. Ads tend to imply the prospect of making money from your recording. Earning royalty checks and so forth. Since that is nearly impossible, it is deceptive to suggest that as the reason one would do it. But otherwise, the pleasure of hearing your own lyrics interpreted should be enough to make the service worthwhile.
This documentary examines a broad perspective of the industry. The musicians that record the songs. The people who send in the lyrics - both seriously and non-seriously. We hear lyrics that are close to nonsense, words that are hilariously dumb, all performed with complete sincerity.
There's a lot of fun in this documentary. Caglar Juan Singletary is just spectacular. It's hard for me to explain it, but his lyrics are bizarre, but with the fantastic singing appearing on his recording, the song feels incredible.
We get to see an argument break out in the studio. We get a condensed version of how the guy at Magic Keys Productions goes from reading the lyrics to a completed recording in about 40 minutes.
While things get a little uncomfortable near the end, when we see a guy make his way through a live performance that he can't handle, it's hard to think of anyone I wouldn't want to share this with.
No comments:
Post a Comment