Aug 17, 2007 - 04:03:47 CDT
Word of mouth, by way of the Internet, rarely involves the mouth. Unless you're using your lips to negotiate your mouse. Rather, it's closer to word of fingers, when your digits type brief, misspelled sentences into the comments section of your friends' MySpace pages, pontificating on how awesome their new hairstyle looks in their profile pic.So it was that I found out about "Chocolate Rain," the newest word-of-fingers sensation on the Net,from the fingers of my dear friend, Kasi. Several weeks ago, as she typed to me through the magical mysteries of MSNMessenger, I followed her digital instructions, logging on to http://www.youtube.com, typing "chocolate rain" into the search function, pressing Enter, and entering the gateway to the best song of the summer, "Chocolate Rain"by Tay Zonday.
If you're going to find out about an Internet sensation, it's best to do it through an Internet technology, I would say. You, too, can follow the above link to the 'Tube, if you're reading this on the Internet. If you're reading this in the actual newspaper though, no amount of "clicking" is going to take you anywhere.
The clip is relatively simple. Zonday perches in front of a microphone, in an empty room. He's a bit Urkel-looking in appearance, but he wears glasses, so I know Ican trust him.
The magic of the clip is, of course, the song he sings. The music is a mixture of a swirling keyboard riff and drum-machine joy. However, most important to this clip's popularity, currently standing at 5.7 million views, is the man himself, Tay Zonday, and his frog-prince baritone croaking out the most bizarrely catchy of lyrics.
"Chocolate Rain"is, as far as I can tell, not a song about the precipitation patterns in Candy Land. Rather, I think the song is probably a statement on racism. Though we may not all live to see the day, Iguess it's possible that historians may look back at this song as the wake-up call that shook society out of its shackles, and we crossed the finish line into the land envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King, thanks to this song.
However, right now, Ithink most of us are too busy trying to wrap our heads around lyrics like, "A baby born will die before the sin," to start appreciating that sweet social commentary. We'll get there, Tay. Give us time.
Zonday's voice is deep, down in the registers of James Earl Jones, Rick Astley, Barry White or Kermit the Frog following a hard week of drinking tar. Best of all, he dramatically thrusts his full body away from the microphone after he sings each verse. Lest you think he's just wearing truly uncomfortable shoes, text superimposed on the screen reads "Imove away from the mic to breathe in."
I love this video in ways Ican never truly understand. It's not incredibly musical. The lyrics frighten and confuse me. Also, sometimes, Iwish he would breathe into the mic just once, so we all know he's OK.
Yet, it's the story of a virtual nobody no record contract, no band, no budget producing a song so popular that all levels of media are covering it. John Mayer and the drummer of Green Day have recorded covers of it, and the entire Internet is abuzz with the clip. As a fellow nobody, it's awesome to see another of the invisible masses deliver the song of the summer.
"Rain"on, Tay, you crazy diamond.
(Reach columnist Kelly Hagen at 250-8259 or kelly.hagen@;bismarcktribune.com.)
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