Timeline.
June 5th, 2007. This uploaded only three days after he uploaded his three poems. This is edited very similarly to his poems. This one has been viewed far more than any of his poetry has, however, over 4500 times. It has 13 likes and 20 dislikes, so it's still pretty heavily disdained, but this one also has eleven comments, including two top commenters. Halo0freak (with four thumbs up) claims to know Daniel Songer personally, saying his dad and Dan are best friends. I'm not sure I really believe him, but I also don't know why he would care to lie. RobotBacon points out a part he finds particularly amusing, and he got two thumbs up for it. There are other comments of note, but my favorite is from Stereobarf, who politely tells Daniel that he needs to take singing lessons.
Presentation.
The biggest highlight for me on this thing is that, despite his editing technique where he is pausing and playing this video in the upper right corner, Dan is nowhere to be found as the video begins. He's clearly got the camera on the tripod, about to run out in front of the camera. Why can't he just edit this part out? I don't know, maybe it's his thing, whatever.
So, as a song, Dan the Poet Man has created a completely new atmosphere from his poems. Now we're outdoors, specifically in Dan's rural suburban back yard. I don't know, maybe I'm going a little crazy from watching these videos, but I really like this change in scenery. I'm probably a little crazy already. It's certainly cheap and kind of funny, but for Daniel Songer Standards(tm) this is pretty nice. I think that small space in front of the fireplace, all that clothing, and seeing Dan from head to toe, all together provided a very claustrophobic feeling. The outdoors is almost a literal breath of fresh air. And it's not just the outdoors, it's his outfit, too. Just a nice button-up collar, no suit jacket, no tie, and definitely no goddamn hat. At the beginning of this video, I'm not actually to upset. He's not going to have as much to fiddle with, he won't be able to crouch because he'll be off camera, and all things considered, this presentation actually feels honest and genuine. So, Daniel Songer is being honest?
Let me explain: Everything about Dan's presentation as Poet was extremely fake and pretentious. He was trying to embody some image that he felt fit a poet persona. From his clothing to where he decided to film, which was naturally in front of a fireplace and a generic painting. It was clearly not something Mr. Songer would normally wear or how he would normally act. Perhaps this location and dress fits his singer persona, but I would argue, regardless, that this still fits more his actual personality. Even when he walks into the frame, he turns and smiles pretty naturally with a loud and exuberant, "HEY!" I think I'm falling in love.
Okay, I think I've exhausted the positive. Immediately following his entrance, Dan introduces himself, making sure to note that he is a singer, song writer, poet, and he's "a dancer, too." I don't recall him mentioning this in the opening of his first poem, which makes me think this is an added interest he's taken on. Just like with the poems, he needs to show off his books, though it looks like he just printed out his manuscripts, rather than buy the versions he self-published. Kind of removes a level of authority behind that whole, "I'm a writer" thing. Why does he feel the need to show us these? In what way does this serve anything? I really don't get the showing them just to clearly drop them in the grass. He could always put links in the description, but instead all that does is talk about him briefly in the third person. Did you also notice is "author photo" on the back of his one book of songs? I want that picture.
My favorite part of all this is his lead in to singing "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head." There's a part around 0:48 where he looks completely away from the camera while he adjusts his pants, which he then follows by running his hands through his hair. He's blinking a lot here, using a number of "uhs," and I can't help but think he's gotten suddenly very nervous. I don't think there's necessarily anyone too close by that he's noticing, I really think that he's just genuinely nervous to sing. Usually this is a sign. He even puts his hand up to his mouth, too. And without much warning, he just starts singing. Well, if you can call it that.
Right as he starts, he holds his left hand up to his mouth as if holding an invisible microphone. I love the invisible microphone. He puts it down quickly, though, maybe even being a bit self-conscious. Over and over, then, he lifts up his left hand in that awkward not entirely open way, then opens it, then re-not-entirely-closes-it, and puts it down. Rinse and repeat. He does this at least five times. At least. It slightly varies, but it's not until around 1:29 where he holds onto "you," where he keeps the hand up and open long enough for it to be considered a change in this pattern. He is also swinging his hips just ever so slightly and awkwardly. And then, slowly but surely as Daniel Songer's passionate "singing" crescendoes, he can no longer keep himself from the invisible microphone. It makes for a beautiful screencap. I'm going to make this into a meme.
And there's no holding back once we get here. Whatever nervousness and trepidation he might have felt at the beginning of this song, it's washed away while he tone-deafly belts to the sky, sprinkling invisible rain on himself. He brings back that hand wash movement which occasionally turns into the invisible microphone. I also thoroughly enjoy his eyes close because he must be enjoying himself that much. I have to hand it to him, for a guy with such little talent and skill, he definitely approaches everything with a lot of passion.
As abruptly as he began singing, he drops his gaze immediately to his song book and says in a low voice, "thank you." He opened up in song, but it really does seem like he's really awkward about it. He is quickly paging through his songbook, and he's even self-conscious enough to use the phrase "I like to consider myself," rather than just forthrightly saying he is "a Christian song writer," as he more or less did in the opening. And then the video just ends. I really have to say, at least all the others attempted to create a stopping point. This one just ends, "I'd like to share, uh," END.
Content.
Originally I figured that the lyrics of this song weren't Daniel's own, assuming they were just B.J. Thomas's "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head." I was going to just move on, especially since I discussed much of the introductory and conclusive material surrounding the song was in the presentation section. All I was planning to do was just question exactly how right Mr. Stereobarf really was about those singing lessons. And I will. Believe me, I will. But I had gotten my hopes up, based really just on title recognition, that I wouldn't have to discuss Dan's writing again. But, alas, I really do. And it really doesn't take long to reconsider this whole project, does it?
The tune of the song is clearly robbed directly from Thomas's song, but for some reason after the first line he is allowed to make up his own lyrics. They also happen to avoid a little thing we call making sense, too. Just consider the first two lines.
Raindrops keep fallin' on my headWhat? WHAT?! What does raindrops falling on my head have anything to do with the way I feel about someone? It's a sad image? But she doesn't make him sad? I'm really just offended by this. There's no other way to explain it.
And that ain't the way I feel about you, babe
Cryin's not for meI'm seriously considering the idea that he just made these up on the spot. I don't mean when he apparently san this at some concert. Did he really sing this at something called "The Doobie Brothers Concert?" I mean that right now, while he's recording this, he's making this shit up. It's the best explanation, because even in my stretch of trying to understand the first two lines, they are contradicted (if that's really even possible with such nonsense) by the following two lines. I say this because now he would never stop the rain from falling. Also, crying isn't for him. Whatever. Trying to break this stuff down is actually making me angry.
'Cause I'll never ever the rain from keep fallin'
That is why all the girls in townWhy do the girls follow him around? Is it because he'll never stop the rain from falling? Because I didn't realize he actually had that power, or that the girls would follow him around because of it. Are they wearing umbrellas? Please tell me they're wearing umbrellas.
Follow me all around
Just like you, they long to be
Close to me
On the day that I was born the angels got togetherNo. They didn't. They really, really didn't.
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled [something] in my hair and in my eyes so blue!It gets way too intense here for me to figure out exactly what is being sprinkled in his hair and eyes. Also, remember the "eyes so blue" line. I'm pretty sure this comes back. Most importantly, this is the first time it seems Dan is just a confident man. He's just so badass that when he was born, angels got together to sprinkle something awesome onto him. I guess he's always been a dream come true, even in his poetry. His smile was something you would "always adore," etc. It's just he's not waiting for love. Instead, all the girls and "you," who I assume is his love, long to be close to him. I guess it is still about love, and again, it's not like he needs to be with them, they want to be with him. So there is still a hint of passiveness involved. He just needs or has people who already see his beauty. And then, finally, he returns to what must be the chorus or refrain, which is the four lines about the girls and "you." And then, thankfully, it's over.
Now I don't need to explain the basic tenets of music or anything, because anyone, whether capable or not of singing themselves, can easily hear that Mr. Songer is not a singer. Instead of trying to go through and point to the notes he's reaching vs. the notes he should be reaching, which would be a feat of its own and done by someone who can figure out notes by hearing them pretty reliably, I'm just going to note my favorite humorously bad parts: Around 1:34 he tries to be especially musical in his singing "me." It's all especially off key. Right around 1:44 he is singing about creating "a dream come true," but he's so out of breath I don't here the "a." It gets worse as he continues, because he's not entirely decipherable, and I'm pretty sure he actually skips over the word "eyes" in "eyes so blue." And he's also just yelling by this point.
What exactly is going on?
As I sort of noted in the content section, it's clear that Daniel Songer is extremely full of himself. I never really got to this part in the poems, but it was more subtle there. The idea is always that the woman or women needed to come to him, but there was also just this idea that he's just so fucking awesome and they just had to see it. Because he's not just a reality, ladies, he's a dream. And he's so damn awesome that on the day he was born, the angels got together to make a dream come true, and that's Dan the Poet Man. He's got something awesome sprinkled in his hair and his "eyes so blue." Mmm, those eyes are so blue. Alright then, Dan, you're an amazing catch. Good thing the ladies are already following you "all around."
From the presentation section, though, you might have gathered I was hinting at something else, which is that in this one, especially, he is really awkward. He starts and ends very suddenly, unlike any of the poems. In the poems he fiddles with his jacket, pants, tie, whatever is nearby. In this one he just "uhs" and looks off camera a lot, which is more awkward than than before. I honestly think he's actually a little uncomfortable about singing on camera. I'm not sure it's a layer of self-consiousness about his tone-deaf singing, though. It's clear, once he finally loosens up, that he really lets the song take him away, and I think he's actually awkward because it makes him somewhat vulnerable. Just like I said about the location and his dress, it seems that even if this is the singer persona, it's more aligned with his actual personality. What I mean is, I think he's sincerely opening up here.
No comments:
Post a Comment