Independent Lens - Season 4 - Eps 2: Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story
“Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story,” a wry exploration of the industry in which record producers set amateurs' poems to music and record them (for a fee, of course). Included are interviews with producers, performers, observers and people who have submitted their poems for musical adaptation. And there's a sampling of the results (examples include “Non-Violent Tae-kwon-do Trooper” and “I Am a Ginseng Digger”). Most songs are “in one ear and out the other,” says musician Ellery Eskelin (the son of a song-poem “auteur”). But, he adds, “There's the 10 or 20 percent that are from another planet.”
About Independent Lens

Title: Independent Lens
First Air Date: 1999-08-09
Last Air Date: 2024-11-11
Status: Returning Series
Rating: 6.833/10 (from 12 votes)
Language: EN
Seasons: 26
Total Episodes: 510
Network: PBS
Genres: Documentary
Production Companies: ITVS
Synopsis
This acclaimed Emmy Award-winning anthology series features documentaries and a limited number of fiction films united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement and unflinching visions of their independent producers and featuring unforgettable stories about a unique individual, community or moment in history.
Cast

Stanley Tucci