Southpaw Jones

I managed to Netflix a superb documentary last week: Off the Charts: The Song Poem Story. It is the exploration of a little known musical subculture wherein ordinary folks send in lyrics in hopes of hitting the big time.

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE who submits receives a letter saying, “We love it! We think you’ve got something great here, and we want to make it a hit song. Send us $250 for recording costs, and you’ll be on your way to music industry success.” Something like that.

Then, these men in Nashville or Los Angeles or somewhere slap some music behind the lyrics, record the song in one take, send the recording to the hopeful poet, and that’s
pretty
much
the
end of the story.

All good documentaries are both funny and sad, as is life, and this one is no different. Both the hopefuls and the songmakers are a bit odd and pathetic. What emerges, though, is that they all have created a strange, compelling, uniquely American art form throughout the past century. No less than 200,000 of these song poems formed as the result of what is essentially a scam.

Songs about aliens, Elvis, elves, bicycles, moms, dads, cats, dogs, martial arts, isolation, romance, and all kinds and colors of Jesus. These songs feature absurd, often insane lyrics put to paint-by-numbers music, and yet, there is something more human and unpredictable than anything in a mainstream record store.

Does that mean I could spend all day listening to them? Um, no.

I recommend the film, especially if you enjoy contemplating the nature of art and creativity. Witness The American Dream: dreamers taking money from other dreamers and pumping out some unbelievable tunes.

Wanna hear some samples from the soundtrack? Try these:

NON-VIOLENT TAEKWONDO TROOPERS

THE THING

ANNIE OAKLEY

The beauty of song-poems is that they are a result of the intersection, or collision, of ordinary people’s expressions and the desires of musicians/businesses to make a quick buck, making the music as fast as they can, usually in one take. When those two forces combine, they create strangely compelling songs that are unlike anything you’ve ever heard.
Jamie Meltzer, flimmaker

Soviet Cigarettes Collection




One clue whose answer consists of two rhyming words:

There weren’t morgues around when Cain killed his brother, but if there were, you could call the toe tag an…

Highlight here for answer: [abel label]



Thursday, September 6th, 2007
8:00 PM
Matt the Electrician & Southpaw Jones
Flipnotics at the Triangle
4600 Guadalupe
Austin, TX
(512) 380-0097
http://www.flipnotics.com
The New Weekly Show!