I’ve never been one to appreciate music videos. The first one I happened to encounter was the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song, “SOUTHERN CROSS”. I think the video was marketed later as an afterthought, in a shameless effort to catch up with the (then) current rave of slick video productions, which indelibly pollute the listener’s mind, and the minds of our children, with prefabricated pictures nothing short of brainwashing.
To me, good music is like good poetry. Each time I enjoy a particular piece of music, or revisit a thought-provoking poem, my mind readily creates its own wonderful translation — new worlds filled with rich images and changing discoveries. To me, the quality of rediscovery is an earmark of great art, stolen from me now and forever whenever I chance upon the once great song, “SOUTHERN CROSS“, playing on some distant radio station or friend’s stereo.
Thank goodness a video camera wasn’t available when Beethoven unleashed his fearsome “FIFTH SYMPHONY”, or when Jefferson Airplane let fly with “HOUSE AT POONEIL CORNER”.
“From here to heaven is a scar,
Dead center, deep as death.
All the idiots have left.
The idiots have left.
Cows are almost cooing,
Turtle doves are mooing;
Which is why a Pooh is poohing
In the sun
Sun”
Absolutely agree with you, Tim. Silly, distracting, often obnoxious and nearly always pretentious …
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BTW, you wouldn’t happen to have that series somewhere, would you? I’d love to see it!
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No. Long gone. 😦
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That sounds like it was a very insightful series!
Here in Michigan, there are two major schools for the Deaf, one in Flint (residental) and one in Detroit (a day school), and even though they are only 60 miles apart, certain signs are different, such as for the color brown, and other words.
And yes, it varies from individual to individual, some are more eloquent, others not so much. Some signers are very poetic, others are more like Mark Twain.
Signs vary across the country just like regional dialects do for hearing people. I remember my first trip down south, I asked for a Coke, and was asked which kind. Huh?
In Michigan, we call it pop, other states call it soda, and some areas in the south call all sodas “Coke”. Interesting!
Signs are also different from country to country, though on a general basis, the grammatical structure is the same. Some friends of mine many years ago adopted a Deaf Korean boy. They asked him if he wanted to drink some pop. He reacted very strangely. Finally they gave him a glass of Mountain Dew and told him it was “pop” and to drink it. He freaked out! They came to realize that the sign for “pop” here is the sign for “bathroom” in Korea, and the Mountain Dew was yellow, so…..
The kid is now an adult and signs ASL very well now. I believe he’s gotten over the initial trauma. LOL!
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Being deaf, I usually think a song is something else and when I see the lyrics somewhere, it’s a big surprise! I love Bob Seger with all the bass rhythm, but I really don’t care what the words really say. It’s not like I’m going to sing along!
Many hearing people love it when a person (usually a hearing person or a wanna be hearing person) signs a song, which I suppose is another way of doing a music video, but a majority of Deaf people could care less.
Deaf people have their own poetry and songs, and the translation of a hearing song (with a very few notable exceptions) is kind of insulting, not to mention stupid looking most of the time.
The majority of the ones on youtube are really lousy, being done by students who can’t really sign that good to begin with and have no idea how to translate into REAL American Sign Language. Ewww.
I doubt I’d like a music video…
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When I worked for PM Magazine while I was living in Baton Rouge, I visited a noted school for the deaf to do a series on American sign. At one point I asked several different students (and instructors) to sign the same simple phrase (which I can’t remember now!). What I DO remember was the incredible diversity in the signing TECHNIQUE. Each person had their own unique style, loaded with nuances only another deaf person could appreciate. Some of the signing was fluid and beautiful, others were harsher, yet still quite beautiful. It seemed like — just as speech values are often dictated by state-of-mind — so was signing. This was the same for the facial accompaniment gestures.
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Oh, dear, I totally agree (or maybe not so totally, because…) with one caveat – there are some country videos out there that actually enhance the whole experience. I listen to everything from old blues to Gregorian chants, Beethoven to Bob Seeger, and I do enjoy the videos on CMT. I think they can enrich the songs, just with the visuals. But no MTV here, thank you…
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I have a collection of Gregorian chants, too — as well as some Renaissance choral pieces. But, ya know — even though, like you, I appreciate all types of music, I still wouldn’t want to see a video behind K.T. Oslin’s “Hey Bobby”. {g}
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