Off
The Charts: The Song-Poem Story
"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"
--Director,
Jamie Meltzer
A
fascinating, at times unsettling, documentary
that exposes the strange underworld of
the song-poem industry. In this little
known subculture, "ordinary people" respond
to come-on ads on the back pages of magazines,
mailing in their heartfelt but often
bizarre poems to "music industry" companies
that, for a fee, turn those poems into
real recordings. OFF THE CHARTS explores
a truly unique, never-before-seen slice
of Gothic Americana through interviews
with several song-poem writers, the jaded
producers and musicians who set their
words to music, and a few of the growing
number of zealous song-poem connoisseurs.
Visit the PBS Independent
Lens Website for broadcast times, discussions,audio-clips,
and a web-karaoke game:
Available
on DVD:  |
| Soundtrack
available
on CD: |
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