To look for america
October 1, 2007 10:13 PM   Subscribe

This post was deleted for the following reason: this is not amazing it's just "laugh at the person who doesn't speak english well" and for single link youtube that's not really cutting it. -- jessamyn



 
Uh.
posted by bjork24 at 10:17 PM on October 1, 2007


Wha? Pretty crappy. Flagged as "other".
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 10:18 PM on October 1, 2007


I'm not posting it for the musicianship -- I'm posting it because the song itself dovetails perfectly with being sung by someone who doesn't know english or understand the words.
posted by Tlogmer at 10:20 PM on October 1, 2007


Forget the dweeb with the out of tune guitar... Didn't you guys see it? About two minutes in, a skyfish sailed through the room. And they caught it on YouTube!
posted by KokuRyu at 10:21 PM on October 1, 2007


I seriously assumed there was simply a typo in the youtube URL until I saw your tags and title. But I guess you really meant to post this.

Huh.
posted by Jezztek at 10:23 PM on October 1, 2007 [1 favorite]


Plenty of people can learn to sing in a language they don't speak. Like, Milli Vanilli, for example.
posted by Brittanie at 10:25 PM on October 1, 2007


I'm sorry. Was there something I was supposed to "get"?
posted by reformedjerk at 10:28 PM on October 1, 2007


1) Find Japanese kids singing English-language songs.
2) ????
3) FPP!!!
posted by Avenger at 10:28 PM on October 1, 2007


I wondered what the hook was. I was watching intently, figuring he must have some kind of heartbreaking birth defect he's overcome, or whatever.

I did see this phenomenon first-hand at a "jazz club" in Thailand, where the singer for the house band was belting out pop-music standards with perfect enunciation. In between songs, it gradually became clear that she spoke not a word of English. I was definitely impressed... I wondered how long it would take me to learn Thai pop songs phonetically, and sing them so convincingly as to fool native speakers? I'm sure Thailand would run out of tomatoes first.
posted by rodeoclown at 10:29 PM on October 1, 2007


This is why I'll never post to the front page.
posted by unmake at 10:30 PM on October 1, 2007 [1 favorite]


That's so true: once in a while one does see something that's totally amazing.

In this case, for me, it's the fact that what you find totally amazing is this guy performing a completely unremarkable version of a Simon and Garfunkel song, and that's whether he doesn't understand backwards underwater Swahili or whatever.

Nonetheless, I'm glad this music could touch you. And it is a fine song, one of Paul Simon's best, IMHO.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:30 PM on October 1, 2007


Is this the same set up that is used in best man speeches where the best man says that it is rare occasion to see such a generous man, such an intelligent and kind person, someone who has achieved everything they have ever set their minds to, envied by everyone who knows them but loved also and then pauses, then says "But enough about me, I'm here to talk about the groom"?
posted by Falconetti at 10:31 PM on October 1, 2007


Once in awhile, you just see something that's totally amazing.

Mostly, though, you just see stuff that's utterly banal.
posted by dersins at 10:31 PM on October 1, 2007 [2 favorites]


Once in awhile, you just see something that's totally amazing.

That is a true statement.
posted by The Deej at 10:35 PM on October 1, 2007




Macaulay Culkin sings Jesus Loves Me
posted by KokuRyu at 10:35 PM on October 1, 2007


Singing frogs
posted by KokuRyu at 10:36 PM on October 1, 2007


Okay! One more time! The Chicken Dance!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:40 PM on October 1, 2007


Needs more Boners.
posted by jonson at 10:44 PM on October 1, 2007 [1 favorite]


i watched the whole thing because i felt certain the ceiling would cave in or a horse would come in and shit on him or he'd suddenly vomit or something.

youtube sets a high bar.
posted by ulotrichous at 10:51 PM on October 1, 2007 [6 favorites]


I didn't get it when I watched it. And now that I've read the comments and realized he didn't speak English I'm still not impressed. Did it say somewhere in the video he didn't understand English and I missed it?

I love me some Simon and Garfunkel, and this was very sub-par
posted by Arbac at 10:56 PM on October 1, 2007


Once in awhile, you just see something that's totally amazing.

That's true. Once I saw this guy make a very realistic replica of Daffy Duck from balloons.
posted by brina at 10:57 PM on October 1, 2007


i watched the whole thing because i felt certain the ceiling would cave in or a horse would come in and shit on him or he'd suddenly vomit or something.

Me too. Imagine my disappointment.

Korean TV is awash with people, usually old ones, singing standards for other old folks, singing those songs in English when they themselves can't speak a single word of English conversationally. I don't think it's as rare as the poster believes it to be.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:58 PM on October 1, 2007


youtube sets a high bar.

well put.

I thought he was going to turn out deaf.
posted by milestogo at 11:00 PM on October 1, 2007


Wes Anderson just called dibs.
posted by ambulance blues at 11:01 PM on October 1, 2007


you guys realize this guy did most of the soundtrack for the new Wes Anderson movie, right?
posted by drjimmy11 at 11:01 PM on October 1, 2007


shit not fast enough!
posted by drjimmy11 at 11:01 PM on October 1, 2007


Wes Anders . . .

Oh.
posted by secret about box at 11:03 PM on October 1, 2007


I watched that whole thing because I thought that for sure at the end he'd turn to face the camera and reveal that he was actually THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, half of his hideously-scarred face covered by a white mask.

Alas.
posted by thehmsbeagle at 11:05 PM on October 1, 2007


if you look closely you'll discover... the guitar has NO STRINGS!

Amazing!
posted by wendell at 11:06 PM on October 1, 2007 [1 favorite]


I'd worked out an elaborate scenario in which he was badly scarred on the other half of his face, perhaps at the hands of the US military. I kept waiting for layers of painful irony to manifest themselves when he turned and faced the camera, irony which could only be resolved through further meditation on Paul Simon's quiet ode to the idea of America as an unrealized dream...

Imagine my disappointment.
posted by felix betachat at 11:07 PM on October 1, 2007 [2 favorites]


also, plenty of people have sung quite successfully in English without knowing what they were saying. "Radar love" by Golden Earring is one famous example.
posted by drjimmy11 at 11:09 PM on October 1, 2007


I know all the words to Hava Nagila, and I don't know what they mean. Hell, I'm not Jewish or anything. I'm a miracle.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:14 PM on October 1, 2007


So, Bookhouse, what is Smokey Robinson really like?
posted by wendell at 11:19 PM on October 1, 2007


Not that great. Only sings in one language.
posted by Bookhouse at 11:20 PM on October 1, 2007


I wouldn't kick him out the campfire sing-a-long for burning the marshmallows.
posted by Abiezer at 11:22 PM on October 1, 2007


I think the trick was that it was filmed backwards.
posted by washburn at 11:24 PM on October 1, 2007


.acirema rof kool ot emoc lla ve'yeht
posted by mr_roboto at 11:29 PM on October 1, 2007


Fuck.
posted by mr_roboto at 11:29 PM on October 1, 2007


Once in awhile, you just see something that's totally amazing.

PILE ON
posted by papakwanz at 11:31 PM on October 1, 2007


No, but seriously, wasn't one of the leads in the first Broadway production of Les Miserables a Japanese woman who sang in phonetically-learned English? And she was a professional.
posted by mr_roboto at 11:31 PM on October 1, 2007


Just to clarify, I don't think it's amazing that he can sing in a language he doesn't knows. I do that myself, to the Pillows.
posted by Tlogmer at 11:35 PM on October 1, 2007


My daughter (bilingual English/Japanese, 7 years old) can sing the French national anthem (La marseillaise) word for word, and doesn't understand a word of it. She nails that twisty-turny melody, too. Still, she can't roll those Rs like Mireille Mathieu, but she's workin' on it.

/proudpapafilter
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:37 PM on October 1, 2007 [1 favorite]


Just to clarify, I don't think it's amazing that he can sing in a language he doesn't knows. I do that myself, to the Pillows.

In that case I do not understand this post even more than I didn't understand it before!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:54 PM on October 1, 2007


I sometimes bark at dogs in parked cars accurately enough that they'll bark back, yet I haven't a clue what I'm saying. It's a miracle of communication.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:54 PM on October 1, 2007




Well, he's better than Radiohead. I'll give him that.
posted by eyeballkid at 12:02 AM on October 2, 2007 [1 favorite]


Very quietly, and at a pitch higher than humans can hear, he is also farting "The Boxer."
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:19 AM on October 2, 2007 [7 favorites]


Flagging this post as "other" is not nearly adequate to express my displeasure.
posted by Spacelegoman at 12:21 AM on October 2, 2007 [1 favorite]


I don't get it, why do you think he doesn't speak english?
btw, he sings in basque, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABr1G3AqZ1M
posted by radiobishop at 12:27 AM on October 2, 2007


I learned a couple of bossa novas phonetically in Portugese (Chega de Saudade and Berimbau). When I sang them for some Brazilians they said they could kind of understand what I was saying. I was pleased.
posted by wsg at 12:39 AM on October 2, 2007


Well, this changes everything
posted by From Bklyn at 12:42 AM on October 2, 2007


I once saw a band in Pattaya, Thailand who were famed for their perfect renditions of Guns N Roses numbers. They were all Thai. One of the guys looked a little like a Thai version of Slash.
posted by MuffinMan at 12:43 AM on October 2, 2007


also, plenty of people have sung quite successfully in English without knowing what they were saying. "Radar love" by Golden Earring is one famous example.

Is it? Kooymans speaks pretty reasonable English in this interview, as indeed do most Dutch people.

Certainly better than my Dutch.
posted by Wolof at 12:51 AM on October 2, 2007


I, too, was waiting for the horse. What was the totally amazing part again?
posted by mumkin at 1:06 AM on October 2, 2007


I think at this point we're still waiting to be told.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:15 AM on October 2, 2007


[ utterly off topic ]

"Radar love" by Golden Earring is one famous example.

Yes. The song is about a guy trying to talk to his dead girlfriend. I know this because there was a discussion of "Radar Love" in Top Gear episode uh, ..google.. season 6, episode 5. But so what, right? Then I realize Jeremy Clarkson is shaping my understanding of popular music. Fuck.

posted by ryanrs at 1:17 AM on October 2, 2007


Well, he's just learning to play the guitar and singing at the same time, which isn't really easy. Whatever the result is, I like the process and the simplicity of what he is doing. Flapjax : tell your daughter french people do not really talk the way Mireille Matthieu does. You'd rather wait some more years before you let her listen to serge gainsbourg's cover, but many people like it like that. Much more regular Rs.
posted by nicolin at 1:36 AM on October 2, 2007


tell your daughter french people do not really talk the way Mireille Matthieu does.

Heh heh! Yeah, I know Mireille's rolled Rs are pretty over the top. But they come in handy for Spanish, I reckon, which I hope she'll also speak some day! And speaking of Gainsbourg (and stuff a 7-year-old's a little too young to hear) did you catch Gainsbourg meets Whitney?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:50 AM on October 2, 2007


Hi flapjax,
Sure, I did see that on tv a long time ago. He was pretty rude with women, I remember he told another singer (C. Ringer) she was a bitch because she had been playing in x rated movies. That's not really the side I liked but some violence sure fits the picture, since he was the highly sensitive kind.
posted by nicolin at 2:10 AM on October 2, 2007


You guys totally missed the point. That video is entirely CG. The guitarist is Andy Serkis.
posted by brundlefly at 2:13 AM on October 2, 2007 [1 favorite]


I'm afraid that if your daughter spoke spanish with those kinds of R's, she would get a laugh and an applause for her imitation of mireille matthieu speaking spanish.
You're still posting interesting musical stuff.. thanks !
posted by nicolin at 2:18 AM on October 2, 2007


It's really impressive how not amazing that video was.

But hey, it got us this thread!

Now someone needs to make a video of a guy playing Stairway to Heaven, and then a skyfish flies into the frame and he turns to look at the camera to apologize and he's horribly scared and played by Andy Serkis and actually Andy Serkis is computer-generated by a Thai shemale prostitute who speaks only Basque.

and she's climbing a stairway...
posted by blacklite at 2:21 AM on October 2, 2007


Everyone's missing the point. The guy has BOTH MALE AND FEMALE GENITALIA. And he's playing "America"!

Could you do that?
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 2:44 AM on October 2, 2007


So, anyway, where was America after all that? Right where he left it, I bet.
posted by Abiezer at 2:56 AM on October 2, 2007


It is sweet that such an innocuous thing could motivate someone to post it to the snark-fest that is Metafilter. It is also annoying that youtube has encouraged this kind of weak ass post.

Maybe another place would have been more apropriate? Somewhere with bunnies and laughter, perhaps?
posted by asok at 3:00 AM on October 2, 2007


I'm sufficiently used to groups like Chanticleer, Anonymous4, Nightnoise etc. learning to sing phonetically in, say, Russian that I don't find this all that remarkable. It's about making certain sounds at certain pitches for the durations indicated by the notes.
posted by pax digita at 3:01 AM on October 2, 2007


I won't enter into the debate as to whether this one-link YouTube FPP was worth it. I personally think the -right- OLYTFPP is perfectly reasonable, although it has to be a really GREAT video.

But what really bugs me is how the text of the post is so generic that there's really no way to tell what it is just from reading it. Is it a musical performance? Is it someone wrapping their lip around their nose? Is it firefighters working on 9/11? Is it a cat who can say "Mama?" Even the page title provides no real hints other than that the video is of a vaguely patriotic nature.

People who post FPPs usually hope that people will enjoy them, it's in your best interest to be a little more specific concerning what awaits us on the other side of the magic portal.
posted by JHarris at 3:22 AM on October 2, 2007


Shit Sandwich.
posted by dbiedny at 3:51 AM on October 2, 2007 [1 favorite]


This is why I'll never post to the front page.

Well, at least you'll never post this to the front page.
posted by psmealey at 4:06 AM on October 2, 2007


I watched that whole thing because I thought that for sure at the end he'd turn to face the camera and reveal that he was actually THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, half of his hideously-scarred face covered by a white mask.

Alas.


Alas indeed, that's exactly what I had been expecting. I should know by now that if the FPP consists of only a Youtube link then it really ain't worth clicking, and it goes double for links that include the words 'totally amazing'.
posted by electricinca at 4:16 AM on October 2, 2007


WES ANDERSON!
posted by Kwine at 4:18 AM on October 2, 2007


"I don't believe there's an atom of meaning in it."

"Tut, tut, child! Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it."

"Speak English! I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't believe you do either!"

"Curiouser and curiouser!"

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

"Have you guessed the riddle yet?"
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 4:30 AM on October 2, 2007


That was not very impressive. Not the guitar player, he's fine. It's this FPP that is a big plate of fail.
posted by zardoz at 4:53 AM on October 2, 2007


In some areas black Rabbits are thought to host the souls of human beings. White Rabbits are said to be really witches and some believe that saying 'White Rabbit' on the first day of each month brings luck.
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 4:56 AM on October 2, 2007


You're supposed to focus on him intently, and then when you go back and play it again, you see the guy in the gorilla suit that YOU DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE THE FIRST TIME. Science!
posted by hermitosis at 5:00 AM on October 2, 2007


White rabbit cocktail recipe:

ice
1 oz milk
3 oz vanilla vodka
3 oz vanilla liqueur

Fill a glass with ice, add in the vodka, vanilla liqueur, and milk. Shake and serve.
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 5:08 AM on October 2, 2007


White Rabbit.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:12 AM on October 2, 2007


Looked like he was reading the lyrics off the computer, no? Wake me when he's memorized all the verses to "American Pie", in Latin.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:28 AM on October 2, 2007


Before the inevitable deletion, let me just say BRING ON THE POOPING HORSES!
posted by Mcable at 5:30 AM on October 2, 2007


Simon and Garfunkel met in elementary school in 1953, when they both appeared in the school play Alice in Wonderland (Simon as the White Rabbit, Garfunkel as the Cheshire Cat).

Milli Vanilli = Milk + Vanilla Vodka + vanilla essence = White Rabbit

Posted on October 1st for good luck. I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date.

I think the trick was that it was filmed backwards.

A writing desk and a raven are nevar backwards.

The guy has BOTH MALE AND FEMALE GENITALIA.

Hermaphrodite? "Radiohead"? American McGee? I'm getting mexed missages here. What am I supposed to "get"?
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 5:31 AM on October 2, 2007


.acirema rof kool ot emoc lla ve'yeht

White Knight talking backwards?

I'm empty and aching and I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike


Being John Malkovich? Is that the rabbit hole?

This doesn't make any sense.
posted by L.P. Hatecraft at 5:37 AM on October 2, 2007


« Older Burma's dissent   |   to sit it out or dance Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments