Off The Charts: The Song-Poem Story

Did you ever see that ad in the back of certain magazines that advertises: Write a hit song! Send us your poem and we'll put it to music!  I sure did and I was always fascinated and curious about what it was all about. I was pretty sure that it was just some sort of scam.

In the 1990's my friends and I actually wrote a nonsense song and sent it into one of those companies - lo and behold, we got back a letter stating that they really enjoyed the lyrics and would like to put it to music. All I had to do was pony up some money. Now I can't remember exactly how much they were asking for, but I do know that I wasn't about to send anyone money to record the lyrics I sent to them - afterall, it was a tune we wrote in just a few minutes that had made up words, and if I remember correctly, idolized Ava Gabor! After seeing "Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story" I've come to regret that decision.

"Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story" is a wonderful PBS produced documentary about the people that send in song poems and the musicians who record and send back the recorded music.  Director, Jamie Meltzer, dug deep and his research paid off. The film profiles several unique characters - some behind the pen and others behind the microphone.  All parties involved seem to have their heart in the process and everyone appears to get something out of it.

I watched the movie on my streaming Netflix account, but I was happy to discover that PBS uploaded the film to YouTube - so set aside an hour and get lost in some pretty unique "outsider" tunes. I look forward to hearing what you thought of the film. Leave a note in the comments area below.





Off The Charts Companion CD Soundtrack