Chandelier by Sia.
I can see why this is a favorite song for singers. It's got range. And it's got attitude. It allows the singer to mumble and slur if they choose, then cut loose with everything they've got in power and elevation, then slump back to slurring.
Twenty five Chandelier covers later I watched men sing this, women sing this, boys wail this song, girls sing this, from people in various countries, along with some twelve or so ASL covers.
The whole world adores this song. It's a song for singers. And it gets people POW right in the left ventricle.
This is one of the better ones. Jordan Smith is a contestant on Blind Audition. When the chairs swing around and they show Jordan Smith, you go, "W-h-a-a-a-a-a-a-t?"
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Puddles Pity Party brought down the house with his own rendition for America's Got Talent. It's very good.
One of my favorite is a boy singing in a dance studio thinking he's alone and wailing at the top of his lungs. It's very short.
I've watched Asian girls sing it, a Russian boy sing it, a Ukrainian boy sing it, All sorts of fer'ners singing it, imitating the way Sia slurs sounding somewhat drunk, imitating her vocal inflections, some as if they don't actually speak English.
A boy, Darren Espanto sings it for Wish radio making the difficult song look easy to sing. He opens up full throttle right there sitting in the studio wearing earphones. Here's a vocal coach reviewing the video and blown away by Darren's vocal agility. Another reaction to Darren's Wish radio video. There are yet more reaction videos to Darren's Wish rendition.
The sign versions vary widely.
Sia had an ASL interpreter for her SNL performance. Extremely poor interpretation. Dismaying. All feeling and no lyrics. Ignoring the lyrics involving being a call girl, feeling shame and drinking all night like it doesn't exist.
Here is a very well-formed "chandelier" in asl. It's "light" + "hanging expanding group of candles" It's a gorgeous sign.
Nobody does that.
Translators show "swing" such as a child's rope swing on a tree branch. Then their chandelier is poorly formed so the ideas of swinging and a chandelier are not connected if "chandelier" is even understood. None of their light rings appear to be hanging, nor shaped as a chandelier. Nearly all translations fail the fundamental visual element of this song. In her lyrics, Sia means swing from a chandelier like a monkey, she's drunk after all. And only one version I saw does this well. Only one girl puts herself in the chandelier swinging. She's fun to watch because she looks like a cross between the girl dancer in Sia's original video and Sia herself, with her genuine mop of blond cropped hair and impish appearance. She looks like Debbie Harry thirty years ago.
She uses a technique I noticed in other videos, very anti-official-translator conceit of dipping their hands in whitewash for dramatic visual effect. Pink-wash in her case, or pink paint. Trained translators will not do this. They will have no jewelry, plain solid clothing with no embellishments and plain background with no distractions. But what makes good translation setup also makes poor uninteresting video. She's very good translator. A real pleasure to watch. You can actually see the song in her movements. She's quite smart and attractive and intriguing.
Most specify the drink is alcoholic drink. The drinking pantomime as if holding a cup, except made with index finger and pinkie fingers extended, the same hand configuration used for alcohol shot except now in taking a drink form.
Sia sings 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, drink, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, drink, throw 'em back 'till I lose count.
One the best lyrical passages ever. It suggests, but not necessarily eight shots.
You don't have to go "1" move your hand over like a typewriter "2" move hand "3" for numbers in a row. The numbers can be made with the hand held rigidly in the same place. Then the same hand used to toss back a drink. Less movement, clearer signs. No need to specify alcohol because the lyrics don't. Let it be a suggestion.
But most translators choose another route. Exceedingly clear. More clear than the lyrics themselves. The invisible shots are lined up on the opposite arm. So, along the arm, 1 shot, 2nd shot, 3rd shot, 1 shot, 2nd shot, 3rd shot, drink alcohol. It's a brilliant translation that makes clear the singer is drinking all night. Until she "forgets." Not "loses count." If I recall right, the blond pixie actually loses count. I think she signs "forget" + "count"
I looked for that.
"Count" is the non dominant hand with fingers extended for "5" hand configuration, then the dominant hand index finger counting off the fingers of the opposite hand. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
While "prime" is the same deal except both open hands, with the dominant hand going up from the pinkie to the thumb of the opposite hand and landing on the thumb like a paper on a spindle. It's a really cool sign. Still, the idea of "forget" " count" comes across very clearly. Even though she actually said, "prime."
Of all the ASL videos I watched I think this one is best. Even better than the most popular one that shows so little fidelity to the poetry of lyrics, and with heavy emphasis on how deaf people say similar phrases. And no connection to beat whatsoever. The most popular is the most conceptually correct. My favorite is the most true to English lyrics and musical beat.
"Ringing my doorbell" is not very clear. It looks like a row of doorbells, except "doorbell" wasn't made clear to begin with. There is no thumb on a button. No door. No bell. But we'll cut the guy some slack because everything else is near textbook and fairly clear and on beat and he respects English lyrics. He's thoughtfully got an ersatz chandelier thing with light bulbs going on. That took some setup.
Oh! There is no sign for "exist" so translators have to reimagine it. Dictionaries will show "live" Other's choose "quotation marks" elsewhere. Most use "happen." Some use "here." Others use "continue." This man says, "happen."
His "tears as they dry" is very good improvisation. The pixie girl uses the textbook sign for "dry."
"Shame" is "embarrassment" red cheeks.
He does a great 1, 2, 3 drink but then his "throw 'em back" is less clear than his "drink." I don't know why he fades out on throwing them back. He should show the same drinks thrown back staccato. All that said, I enjoy this video very much and in my opinion it's the best.
Oh! There is no sign for "exist" so translators have to reimagine it. Dictionaries will show "live" Other's choose "quotation marks" elsewhere. Most use "happen." Some use "here." Others use "continue." This man says, "happen."
His "tears as they dry" is very good improvisation. The pixie girl uses the textbook sign for "dry."
"Shame" is "embarrassment" red cheeks.
He does a great 1, 2, 3 drink but then his "throw 'em back" is less clear than his "drink." I don't know why he fades out on throwing them back. He should show the same drinks thrown back staccato. All that said, I enjoy this video very much and in my opinion it's the best.
3 comments:
Never heard this song before. Couldn't make heads or tails of it. Chandelier something something. But it's orgasmic, so I guess that's the appeal.
The whole world adores this song.
Not so.
Sentimentality originally indicated the reliance on feelings as a guide to truth, but current usage defines it as an appeal to shallow, uncomplicated emotions at the expense of reason.
That's the wiki definition, and part of me agrees, as the whole "Yaayyy, adorbs, adorable, isn't this sweet, cute, touching? This gets me right in the heart!" focus in current culture seems centered around sentimentality as a catch all, happy-land form of numbness with a canned, emo cover that protects and prevents one from entering into the harder work of recognizing mixed emotions and processing through what comes up to find balance.
What is the relationship of the music to the words? Is the music the sensory vehicle for the words? Is it being used to draw or evoke a response of sorts, while the story presented reveals a cliche ridden description of what its like to live in addiction?
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