Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Ode to Hillary (IDFWY)

The Trump/Hillary debate caused me to turn my attention to this song. Again.

Well, now I've watched some 20 versions or so of this song and this is the best. Uploaded by YouTube member Definitely Dope, and he is definitely dope. He is explicit. He drops nothing. He transliterates so much as translates, not interprets. Except his copy skips a bit at the beginning. I doesn't matter. He says what is heard. None of the other uploads do. Most are choreography with idiosyncratic signaling, the phone ringing, answering the phone and so forth. He is showing the words to the last stanza literally. Beginning with an oddly duplicated carryover from the last line of the penultimate stanza. Although his signaling is constricted by being inside his cab and obscured by his steering wheel, it all shows very nicely. When I saw his performance my eyes popped out. Rarely do I see anything nearly this clear and this precise.

The other interpreters uploading take a good deal liberty in finding a similar phrasing to this song and to the other similar sweary songs, Ceelo Green's FU, for example, I see a very wide range of regional sign and idiosyncratic signaling, dropping of lyrics for similar phrasing. "I would say that this way" sort of signing.

"I see you driving around town with the girl I love" If I didn't know what they were signing I wouldn't be able to identify the song. "Driving" is often dropped. "Town" is sometimes a single house. Other times it's three houses. "driving around town" is "I see you two out there." And of the five or so videos for the phrase "I guess the change in my pocket wasn't enough" I don't see any signal anywhere for "guess" nor for "pocket" those two concepts are dropped in their interpretations for "money not enough"

For their "fuck you" all of them choose the Italian style full hand flick under the chin that you see in movies, when the American middle finger bird is such an excellent choice for that and universal, and the signal for two legs copulating is available none of them use it. The Italian style flick is valid and appropriate, but in my opinion the middle finger bird is a better choice.

The second video the girls choreographing IDFWY are splendid. This is the most fun and playful version that I've seen. It's seems about 20% or less of American sign at most, all the rest is gesticulation and interpretive dance so again there is no chance of transcribing the lyrics back into the printed lyrics, but it does convey the feeling of the song excellently and playfully. The two girls are wonderful together. They've uploaded several videos and so far this is my favorite. Their copy of IDFWY has the swears elided audibly so it's a SFW version of the same explicit song.

Here is what Definitely Dope is saying, the words are a bit difficult to make out by listening for its jargon. He clarifies them better than anything I've seen. You'll never see anything like this in real life. Frankly, it's astounding. It shows a full comprehension of the actual lyrics.

I don't give a fuck about you or anything that you do
(skip) give a fuck about you or anything that you do

I got a new chick that I gotta thank God for
I got a new whip gotta thank the lot for
Yeah I got a lot but want a lot more
Yeah we in the buildin' but I'm tryna take it to the top floor
I swear I hear some new bullshit everyday I'm wakin' up
It seems like nowadays everybody breakin' up
That shit can break you down if you lose a good girl
I guess you need a bad bitch to come around and make it up
I guess drama makes for the best content
Everything got a bad side, even a conscience
Now you're drinkin' 'til your unconscious
Feel me when you get a fine bitch
Just don't forget to read the fine print
Life got me meditatin' like I'm in the Himalayas
Keep it G with the L lit on me like I'm in the elevator
Yeah I know that karma too real so I hope you doin' cool
But still stupid ass bitch I ain't fuckin' with you



This is Janelle Ginestra presenting the two girls Taylor Hatala and Larsen Thompson, I think I have that right. The two girls are wonderful together. This had to have taken a great deal of practice. I'm seeing touches of American sign throughout but they're more interested in conveying the mood of the song more so than the actual lyrics. I hope you can enjoy this so much as I do. Their playfulness is deightful.



1 comment:

ricpic said...

Cole Porter has nothing to fear from the current competition.