TV Talkin' Song

November 19, 2013 10:11 AM

"Martha, call the cable company--it's playing 'Like a Rolling Stone' on every channel again!"
posted by Horace Rumpole (45 comments total)

Ok, that is super cool.
posted by phunniemee at 10:13 AM on November 19, 2013

That's crazy.
posted by lumpenprole at 10:15 AM on November 19, 2013

The video was created by Interlude

Interlude, this dude thinks you're fine.
posted by anazgnos at 10:21 AM on November 19, 2013 [5 favorites]

Wow. Managed to hit serendipity - on the shopping channel for "take your diamond ring and pawn it" then the History channel for "Napoleon in rags". Hard not to stay put on one channel - really well done.
posted by Mchelly at 10:22 AM on November 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

Giant smile when I hit channel 121.
posted by griphus at 10:23 AM on November 19, 2013

Reminds me of a game we used to play as kids where we'd mute the TV, turn up the radio, and watch for those occasional moments when people's mouth movements synced up perfectly with the song lyrics. It happened more often than you'd think, though the best success rate was always with cartoons.
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:23 AM on November 19, 2013 [3 favorites]

Danny Brown on 122!
posted by Ad hominem at 10:25 AM on November 19, 2013 [2 favorites]

I found Dylan! He's on Music Classics 1.
posted by Curious Artificer at 10:25 AM on November 19, 2013

Wow, a friend had just forwarded this to me, and I was going to post it here if it wasn't here already.

That was very, very well done!
posted by mosk at 10:26 AM on November 19, 2013

wow, that is really cool.
posted by Think_Long at 10:26 AM on November 19, 2013

Anybody spot this on the Danny Brown channel?
posted by R.F.Simpson at 10:30 AM on November 19, 2013 [3 favorites]

The ticker headlines on the news channel are great too. "Banks still dealing with imaginary money". "Breaking: cops still occasionally shoot hooded teenagers".
posted by Curious Artificer at 10:32 AM on November 19, 2013 [3 favorites]

There's a few moments when the Sports Center-like coverage of tennis on Channel 133 is showing a slow motion replay that still syncs to the music that takes this to another level for me (and it was already at a really high level).
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:33 AM on November 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

Play it fuckin' loud.
posted by Rangeboy at 10:35 AM on November 19, 2013 [8 favorites]

From the mashable article mentioned in the Slate piece:

More channels will eventually be added to the video, Interlude CEO Yoni Bloch said, adding that "you'll always miss something because you can't watch everything at the same time."

If part of you responded in your head "you don't know me, Yoni Bloch", this video may be for you.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:36 AM on November 19, 2013 [2 favorites]

OK, this is brilliant - each channel has some level of wonderful touch to the song. Like the Home Shopping Channel lady lovingly showing off her dustbuster to the "vacuum of his eyes" line and the History Channel having black and white footage of the city with the signage reflecting the lyrics.

Probably need to watch this through fully once on each channel.
posted by nubs at 10:39 AM on November 19, 2013

I am mesmerized.
posted by blurker at 10:41 AM on November 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

I am mesmerized.

I once had Like A Rolling Stone come on while the big "Consider Yourself At Home" song and dance bit from Oliver played (sans volume) on TV. It was more or less a perfect fit, and this has that same feel. Whatever Dylan's on about in this song -- it continues to speak to the heart of this complex and tragic and amazing world we're all stuck in. Not one of the greatest records in the history of recorded music, the greatest.

Because try as I may, I can't get tired of it, and I'm sure I've tried a thousand times,
posted by philip-random at 10:46 AM on November 19, 2013

Wow, this is wonderful, I couldn't stop laughing. I want to see every channel at once in a big grid.
posted by octothorpe at 10:47 AM on November 19, 2013

The casting call.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:50 AM on November 19, 2013 [2 favorites]

Oh man, I love this. I love seeing the fruits of a bunch of creative people working at the top of their game. This is fantastic work. Bravo, Interlude.
posted by minervous at 10:50 AM on November 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh wow, the part on the shopping channel where she gives the microphone to the other woman at the perfect moment and the OTHER WOMAN SAYS IT TOO! Wow!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 10:59 AM on November 19, 2013

Huh, I'd forgotten what cable TV is like. Feels so outdated compared to the song.
posted by Yowser at 11:02 AM on November 19, 2013

Danny Brown kills it. Just watch his parts.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:04 AM on November 19, 2013 [2 favorites]

All this needs is vampire ninjas that have to be stopped using frustratingly time-sensitive traps otherwise they murder everyone and you have to start over.
posted by burnmp3s at 11:04 AM on November 19, 2013

Also, it seems that all of the channels have an emphasis on the line "Make a deal." I can't be bothered to watch them all again, hope there's a supercut at some point.
posted by Yowser at 11:06 AM on November 19, 2013

...is that Steve Carell selling newspapers on the History Channel, or just someone who looks sort of like him? (I'm terrible at recognizing celebrities.)
posted by jferg at 11:33 AM on November 19, 2013

This happened to me in the early 1990s once at 3:00 AM while on acid, only with Guns and Roses' Appetite for Destruction. The entire album. Every station we turned to the people on the screen were singing the words. Even the cartoons.

It was pretty cool.
posted by bondcliff at 12:01 PM on November 19, 2013 [6 favorites]

I thought this was impressive on first viewing, and that's before I realized it was possible to change channels at will.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 12:29 PM on November 19, 2013

I love this from Going To Maine's casting call link:

SEEKING TALENT

Bald Uniformed Policeman (Supporting): Male, 40-64, All Ethnicities
Note: Please indicate in your submission if you own a police uniform.

posted by mosk at 12:34 PM on November 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

Chumley has apparently lost a few pounds since his last Bob Dylan interaction.
posted by TomSophieIvy at 12:43 PM on November 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

Help, I can't stop watching this.
posted by octothorpe at 12:44 PM on November 19, 2013

the one with the anime phonetics program, terrified me.
posted by PinkMoose at 1:11 PM on November 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

Meh.
posted by timsteil at 1:31 PM on November 19, 2013

> Meh.

Jimi's take is definitely a brilliant interpretation, but in Dylan's defense, the officially released version -- the keeper take with "that snare shot that sounded like somebody'd kicked open the door to your mind", as Springsteen put it - was only the fourth time Dylan & Co. played the song all the way through in its ultimate arrangement.

Now, if we're talking All Along the Watchtower, yeah, Jimi's version kills.
posted by mosk at 1:52 PM on November 19, 2013

So many great little touches, like the Rolling Stones t-shirt in the Danny Brown segment or that Lesley the paralegal is from Duluth or the news flash that Putin as gone back to his hobby of bear riding.
posted by octothorpe at 2:08 PM on November 19, 2013

The point of actual channel change when you realise that the same thing is going on simultaneously in a parallel universe is deeply deeply weird.
posted by carter at 5:25 PM on November 19, 2013 [2 favorites]

Pure genius -- and they misspelled "raspberries" on the Cuisine channel.

(lies down with cool compress)
posted by cyndigo at 5:33 PM on November 19, 2013

Our new mayor posted this to Facebook a few minutes ago. Not sure what that means.
posted by octothorpe at 6:11 PM on November 19, 2013 [2 favorites]

This reminds me so much of Dylan's Christmas album. You know he's saying something, but...what?

It's amazing how good TV is at parodying TV. I am amused at how real it all looks...real fake, anyway. I mean, maybe it's sort of about the impossibility of directness and sincerity in this medium.

It's really fun to watch what people do on camera during the long harmonica riffs.

Drew Carey's lost some weight.

It's a lot of fun. I kind of wish those actors had gotten more than a $40 per diem.
posted by Miko at 8:04 PM on November 19, 2013

I can dig this. Still getting used to the electric thing.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:17 PM on November 19, 2013

JUDAS.....and I mean that in the nicest way possible
posted by wheelieman at 4:58 AM on November 20, 2013 [3 favorites]

So now you do need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows?
posted by sy at 12:50 PM on November 20, 2013 [3 favorites]

They do seem to be adding channels... I showed it to my daughter today and there was a Pawn Stars channel I swear wasn't there before. So hilarious. Plus, I learned that discerning three year olds really like Bob Dylan songs, so win-win.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 1:51 AM on November 21, 2013

Pawn Stars was there when I viewed it soon after the FPP went up.
posted by Miko at 5:35 AM on November 21, 2013