Literal music video

A literal music video, also called a literal video version, is a parody of an official music video clip in which the lyrics have been replaced with lyrics that describe the visuals in the video.[1]

Literal video versions are usually based on music videos in which the imagery appears illogical, disconnected with the lyrics, and more concerned with impressive visuals than actual meaning.[2][3] Most of the literal videos have been based on music videos from the 1980s and 1990s.[2] Literal videos generally have new lyrics dubbed over those of the original video, and often include captions for better clarity. Lyrics range from references to the video editing (such as Anthony Kiedis being dubbed as saying "Now superimpose on me/someone's ugly house" in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' video for "Under the Bridge"), to questioning the unusual things depicted in the video which are usually, by convention, ignored by the participants (for example the lyrics "What's happening with that monkey?/What is with this gas mask?/This is a strange library." from the literal version of Tears For Fears' "Head Over Heels").[2][4]

The ones for "Take on Me" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" have seen millions of views on YouTube and have created a brief resurgence of the original song in the popular culture. In the concept's first year, YouTube has hosted 100 different "literal version" videos, from users all over the world, including foreign language entries.[5][6]

Contents

Conception

The first known example of this meme, a redub of A-ha's "Take on Me", was posted on YouTube by Dustin McLean in October 2008.[7][8] McLean, who worked on the animated SuperNews! show on Current TV, stated that the idea for literal videos came about from an inside joke with his fellow workers,[8] and that two of his coworkers along with his wife helped to provide the new vocal lyrics.[9]

In the two months after "Take On Me" was posted, ten other YouTube users began making literal versions of their own. The most popular of these initial non-McLean videos was a redub of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up", by copyrighthater, which went on to receive over two million views in its first year online.[10] The new lyrics give a nod to "Rickrolling", a previous internet meme that involved tricking people into watching the original video of the same song.

Total Eclipse

In the first third of 2009, McLean and seven other people made new literal videos. Five of these were by David A. Scott (dascottjr), a commercial producer in upstate New York. His sixth video, a redub of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was posted on May 25, 2009. Shortly after, links to it appeared on websites for Entertainment Weekly, Ashton Kutcher's Twitter page, and Perez Hilton. From there, the video received 1,009,331 views in its first ten days, surpassing two million views in three weeks. [11]

Copyright issues

In December 2008, literal versions of "Take On Me" and "Under the Bridge" were removed from Dustin McLean's YouTube account, due to copyright claims by Warner Music Group. By that time, "Take On Me" had 2,321,793 views, while "Under the Bridge" had 340,927. Both videos continued to be available on McLean's "Funny or Die" page, while copied versions were posted by other users on YouTube.[12]

Two of Scott's literal videos, Crowded House's "World Where You Live" and The Killers' "Read My Mind" were banned in several non-U.S. countries immediately upon upload, due to copyright restrictions by EMI and Universal Music Group, respectively. In December 2009, the Killers video was blocked worldwide.[13]

In August 2009, YouTube user Torrey Meeks, a.k.a. levmyshkin (whose May 2008 "Bill O'Reilly Flips Out - DANCE REMIX" got 2.9 million views in its first year) saw his literal version of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" taken down, after a copyright claim by Sony Music, one month after he had posted it. Meeks contested the claim soon after.[14]

Later that month (less than a week after excerpts were shown on ABC's "Nightline"), the literal videos for "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" (the latter posted by deshem in December 2008) were both removed from YouTube, after a copyright claim by EMI Music. Via YouTube and Facebook, David A. Scott encouraged friends and fans of the videos to complain about the ban to YouTube and EMI.[15]

Before Scott could contact YouTube or EMI himself, both videos were restored to their original accounts on August 26, only two days after they were banned. YouTube and EMI gave no reason for the reversal.[16] That same day, YouTube also unbanned McLean's videos of "Take On Me" and "Under the Bridge", without saying why. Also that day, YouTube accepted Meeks' counter-notification, restoring his video of "Smooth Criminal". However, Sony had Meeks' video removed again by September 1. By the end of December, all but one of Meeks' six literal videos were removed, due to copyright claims by UMG. McLean's "Under the Bridge" was blocked again in 2010.

In November 2009, CeilingofStars posted a literal version of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance". The video was automatically blocked by YouTube for containing material owned by Universal Music Group. The copyright claim was contested, and the video reappeared online, shortly before being removed by Universal. Around the same time, Warner Music Group had cushlinkes' literal version of "Whip It" removed as well. By the end of December 2009, over twenty of the 100 English language literal videos had been removed from YouTube, mostly due to copyright claims from Universal Music Group and Sony Music. Artist parodied by the removed videos included Billy Joel, Boyz II Men, REM, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Hanson, Cyndi Lauper, and Rick Astley. Some of the removed videos have been re-uploaded on other video websites.

According to McLean, various networks (MTV, VH1, and CMT) have contacted him about turning the concept into a TV program. However, the difficulty in getting the rights to original music videos has scared off most developers.[17]

Mainstream mentions

Artist reactions

See also

References

  1. ^ Greenblatt, Leah (2009-05-28). "New literal video: "Total Eclipse of the Heart"". The Music Mix Blog. Entertainment Weekly. http://music-mix.ew.com/2009/05/new-literal-vid.html. Retrieved 2009-05-31. 
  2. ^ a b c Weeks, Jerome (2008-11-03). "Literal-minded". book/daddy. ArtsJournal. http://www.artsjournal.com/bookdaddy/2008/11/literal-minded.html. Retrieved 2009-05-31. 
  3. ^ Bosso, Joe (2008-10-20). "Hot video: U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - literal version". Music Radar. http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/hot-video-u2s-i-still-havent-found-what-im-looking-for-literal-version-178010. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
  4. ^ Suddath, Claire (2008-10-28). "Tears for Fears: The Literal Remix". Time. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1852733,00.html?iid=fb_share. Retrieved 2009-06-06. 
  5. ^ Mccarthy, Caroline (2009-07-29). "The top 10 songs the Web brought back". CNet. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10295345-36.html. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
  6. ^ Fussell, James (2009-07-28). "Literal version videos rack up views on the Web for classic hits". Kansas City Star. http://www.kansascity.com/238/story/1349410.html. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
  7. ^ "A-Ha get the internet remix treatment". Entertainme. Excite UK. 2009-10-08. http://entertainme.excite.co.uk/news/3685/AHa-get-the-internet-remix-treatment. Retrieved 2009-05-31. 
  8. ^ a b Ganz, Caryn (2008-10-06). "Rocking Literally: The Story Behind “Take on Me,” “Head Over Heels” Video Parodies". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/rocking-literally-the-story-behind-take-on-me-head-over-heels-video-parodies-20081016. Retrieved 2011-03-26. 
  9. ^ Popkin, Helen A.S. (2008-10-06). "YouTube satire is ‘literally’ hilarious". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27090605/wid/7279844. Retrieved 2009-06-13. 
  10. ^ "Rick Roll: The Literal Version". YouTube. 2008-10-17. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr2jlCyCJBI. Retrieved 2008-10-17. 
  11. ^ Scott, David (2009-05-25). "Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-x9ygQEGA. Retrieved 2009-05-25. 
  12. ^ McLean, Dustin (2008-12-12). "Dust Films (official website)". Dust Films. http://www.dustfilms.com. Retrieved 2008-12-12. 
  13. ^ Scott, David (2009-08-24). "Total Eclipse Literal Video: Various News Clips". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnPdARocp5Q. Retrieved 2009-08-24. 
  14. ^ Meeks, Torrey (2009-08-24). "Torrey Meeks (official site)". Torrey Meeks. http://www.torreymeeks.com/Site/Home.html. Retrieved 2009-08-24. 
  15. ^ Fioraliso, Ted (2009-08-26). "Literal Video Unbanned". Facebook. http://www.weny.com/News-Local.asp?ARCH3864=1&ARTICLE3864=9147225. Retrieved 2009-08-26. 
  16. ^ Scott, David (2009-08-29). "Total Eclipse Literal Video: UNBANNED". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDTNEZMjz0E. Retrieved 2009-08-29. 
  17. ^ Kennison, James (2009-07-28). "Dustin McLean, Literal Video Mastermind". Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2009/07/28/dustin-mclean-literal-video-mastermind-on-writing-legal-woes-and-his-go-to-karoke-song/tab/article/. Retrieved 2009-10-19. 
  18. ^ Schmidt, Bryan (2009-06-16). "Glee Club of the Damned". Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/group.php?v=info&ref=ts&gid=104701591982. Retrieved 2009-06-16. 
  19. ^ Scott, David (2009-06-09). "Total Eclipse Literal Video on CNN's AC360". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UULlroFAVuI. Retrieved 2009-06-09. 
  20. ^ "The Top 10 Viral Videos of 2009". Time magazine. http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,59392900001_1950326,00.html. Retrieved August 17, 2010. 
  21. ^ "14th Annual Webby Awards Official Honoree Selections - Viral Online Film & Video". Webby Awards. April, 2010. http://webbyawards.com/webbys/current_honorees.php?media_id=97&category_id=109&season=14. Retrieved 2010-05-10. 
  22. ^ "Great Moments in Web Comedy". TIME. July, 2010. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2007545,00.html. Retrieved 2010-08-3. 
  23. ^ Scott, David (2009-03-02). "World Where You Live: Literal Video Version". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxcUZlIXU-o. Retrieved 2009-03-02. 
  24. ^ Hansen, Beck (2009-08-09). "Beck (Official Website)". XL Recordings. http://beck.com/. Retrieved 2009-08-09. 
  25. ^ Kreps, Daniel (2010-03-14). "The Secret History of A-ha's Smash Take On Me". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-secret-history-of-a-has-smash-take-on-me-20100514. Retrieved 2011-03-26. 
  26. ^ Kid, Le (2010-05-20). "Mercy Mercy LITERAL". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSNrVw5t6Po. Retrieved 2010-08-03. 
  27. ^ Hasselhoff, David (2010-07-29). "You've Never Seen "Hooked on a Feeling" Like This!". HoffSpace. http://davidhasselhoff.com/profiles/blogs/youve-never-seen-hooked-on-a. Retrieved 2010-08-03. 
  28. ^ Gantvoort, Leif (2010-08-03). ""Right Kind of Love" Music Video (Literal Version)". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtFOXKRqjlk. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
  29. ^ Mister, Mr. (2011-04-19). ""Kyrie: Literal Video Version" (Google cache)". YouTube. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:w-g4OrqLNKMJ:www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DL20WUHGapxI+kyrie+literal&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com. Retrieved 2011-04-19.