I've brought. . . some corn for. . . popping.

November 23, 2022 2:26 PM

Around 20 professional singers and composers attempt to sing a very badly transcribed version of "Let It Snow" as written. (SL Twitter.)
posted by eotvos (21 comments total)

As someone just relearning the piano with some extremely simplified classical and rock arrangements, this feels familiar! There are so many moments where I go "Whaaat? Am I misreading this? I must be misreading this" -- but some painstaking inspection usually reveals that I am indeed, not misreading
posted by treepour at 3:34 PM on November 23, 2022 [2 favorites]

I've brought some corn for popping,
And that's just what I'll do.
One of these days
This corn is going to pop all over you.
posted by hippybear at 3:44 PM on November 23, 2022 [35 favorites]

Nitter link! (needs "load more" clicks)
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 3:50 PM on November 23, 2022 [1 favorite]

Oh my god. This is my new favorite thing. How. Just how do you print that.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:00 PM on November 23, 2022 [3 favorites]

Threatening Notation is either awesome or must be stopped at all costs.
posted by plinth at 4:03 PM on November 23, 2022 [4 favorites]

This is so interesting! I've also been trying to relearn very basic piano and bumping into weird notation. Aside from the fully-one-syllable-off weirdness, hearing the eighth notes unswung is so odd.

That slightly-off-ness - the bit where it's not completely wrong, just a little strange - reminded me of this very interesting series Heath Saunders did where they sang musical theater songs with the rhythm exactly as written. It's such a fascinating exercise, especially if you're used to hearing lots of different interpretations!
posted by earth by april at 4:09 PM on November 23, 2022 [6 favorites]

It's been a long piece since I sight read but I've done it enough I can pull it out for parties and refrains. I got to the delightful part and thought "that's...weird." Then got to the snow part and was like "OK it's probably been too long since I read music."

Watched a couple of videos. It was not me.
posted by fiercekitten at 4:40 PM on November 23, 2022 [3 favorites]

Thanks, I hate it.

(still entertaining though, in an excruciating way)
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:42 PM on November 23, 2022 [2 favorites]

Le tits now Le tits now Le tits now
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:44 PM on November 23, 2022 [11 favorites]

It reminds me of when you sing Take Me Out To The Ball Game, but you start with "Take" one beat before appropriate, so "Me" ends up being at the beginning of the melody. It all sort of pans out right until the end when you run out of words before you hit the last note in the final, resolving scale.
posted by hippybear at 4:49 PM on November 23, 2022 [3 favorites]

Got it in one. The ghost of my old music theory professor who lives on my left shoulder has decided to let me live another day.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:34 PM on November 23, 2022 [2 favorites]

rreminds me of when you sing Take Me Out To The Ball Game, but you start with "Take" one beat before appropriate, so "Me" ends up being at the beginning of the melody.

You're not actually my great grandmother, right? (I would be very happy to talk to you if so, but it seems unlikely.)
posted by eotvos at 8:27 PM on November 23, 2022 [1 favorite]

Depends on when she died and what you think of reincarnation.
posted by hippybear at 8:35 PM on November 23, 2022 [1 favorite]

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

We used to sing it as:
One-two-three strikes
then you're out in the old ball game.....
posted by eye of newt at 10:16 PM on November 23, 2022

Depends on when she died and what you think of reincarnation.

To be clear, I'm happy to talk to you despite my skepticism.
posted by eotvos at 1:07 AM on November 24, 2022

That slightly-off-ness - the bit where it's not completely wrong, just a little strange - reminded me of this very interesting series Heath Saunders did where they sang musical theater songs with the rhythm exactly as written.

earth by april, I enjoyed that video so much I posted a question at AskMetafilter for more.
posted by Well I never at 7:42 AM on November 24, 2022 [2 favorites]

Shari Lewis did that "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" gag. She started the melody on "out."
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:05 AM on November 24, 2022 [2 favorites]

This reminds me of this Jay Foreman bit.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 9:19 AM on November 24, 2022 [2 favorites]

To place this hysterical goof in historical context, the song was from of a maybe-1000-song weighty fake book intended back in those ancient pre-iPad days to cover all professional gigs as best as possible. In this case, the melodic line and chords are transcribed correctly. They just decided to cram in the lyrics wherever they could fit, given the page size.

I happen to possess this same fake book, and can kinda sympathize with the plight of its transcribers. I do have to say that upon casual examination of a few other songs included in the book, lyrics were placed closely under their melody-note counterparts. I also have to say that often enough, the chord choices of many entries are equally laughable.

And of course, any time I have the now-rare occasion to use this book, Iʻll wind up on the lookout for similar faux pas.
posted by Droll Lord at 5:17 PM on November 24, 2022 [7 favorites]

It reminds me of trying to learn songs on guitar from piano fake books where every song was in a key with four sharps and every chord was like Bdim7.
posted by rhizome at 7:34 PM on November 24, 2022

I happen to possess this same fake book, and can kinda sympathize with the plight of its transcribers.

I love this place!

It might be in the twitter thread, but what's the book?
posted by eotvos at 3:34 AM on December 14, 2022