Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
All Eyes on Me: The Parody, The Original, and the Cover
This is Bo Burnham.
Bo Burnham is a comedian/social commentator. He looks like a slightly dorky, good-looking guy you met in your classes in college. He was probably going into some science field or programming. Either way, he never looked at you strangely if you mentioned you played D&D; he’d probably even tell you about his own character. He did just fine in his classes and was always ready with a fun quip. He made everyone feel good and was actually quite insightful about the relationships of others around you. He was just a good guy and everyone liked him, even if not everyone got his dorky and sometimes dark sense of humor.
In real life, Bo Burnham is around 30 years old now. He’s been doing the comedy, parody-song-thing for the last 10 years or so. He’s done remarkably well at it, all told, and has been all over the country. He has a niche following.
During the Great Ongoing Pandemic of the 2020s, he decided to release a Netflix special after five years away from the stage.
It was the Pandemic. He looked a bit…different.
Really, he ended up looking like all of us and feeling, well, about like all of us did during the lockdowns.
But unlike many of us, he’d already been locked down. During the previous 5 years, he had been suffering from panic disorder and severe anxiety that impaired him to the point that he could not perform.
After those five years away, lots of therapy, and good social support, he scheduled a date for a new show.
Then the pandemic hit.
It was all over. Everything was for naught.
Or was it? He took the opportunity to produce Inside, a special for Netflix. If you haven’t seen it, please do. While not all of it will be your cup of tea (he’s not particularly conservative), it does provide interesting commentary on being alone, virtual social lives, our personas on the internet, fame, family, and what the future holds.
Most significantly, he wrote a song called “All Eyes on Me.” This song was intended to be a parody of hype songs like Kanye West’s. Fake audience applause and auto-tune is piled onto the track. Well known for his mid-song free-flowing diatribes on whatever took his fancy at that moment, Kanye has been roundly mocked online. This time, though, it was a thoughtful parody. What started as a fun take on hype songs and Kanye’s megalomaniacal verbal effusions turned serious, the lyrics no longer just a reflection of the vapid “get your hands up” tracks on so many pop albums.
Burnham moves the song into the territory of isolation, self-congratulation, and self-loathing while considering just how much people might really know about one’s life versus their perceptions of one’s carefully constructed stage character. Performed by himself with only the sounds of an audience, he sings this track to hype exactly no one. The lighting and staging perfectly demonstrates the ridiculous nature of these tracks.
If you have never heard it, listen here. It is NSFW due to language. After 10 months, it has almost 24 million views. With good reason, the song is something of an anthem for the introspection during the worst parts of the lockdown.
Other YouTube creators, such as Malinda (a primarily folk artist), covered the song in such a way as is chilling.
It slows the track even more, removes the monologue, and allows the song’s emotion to take over. If you have not heard it, you should. Her voice is hauntingly beautiful normally and illustrates just how parody has sadly become reality while we were all in isolation.
Just a little something that I was thinking about today and thought that perhaps other folks might enjoy.
Published in General
Lyrics here:
Get your fin’ hands up
Get on out of your seats
All eyes on me, all eyes on me
Get your fin’ hands up
Get on out of your seats
All eyes on me, all eyes on me
Are you feeling nervous? Are you having fun?
It’s almost over, it’s just begun
Don’t overthink this, look in my eye
Don’t be scared, don’t be shy
Come on in, the water’s fine
We’re goin’ to go where everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody, oh
We’re goin’ to go where everybody knows
Everybody knows
Get your fin’ hands up
Get on out of your seat
All eyes on me, all eyes on me
Ayy, come on, get your fin’ hands up
Get on out of your seat
All eyes on me, all eyes on me, yeah, come on
Heads down, pray for me
Heads down now, pray for me
Get your fin’ hands up
Get on out of your seat
All eyes on me, all eyes on me
[Interlude: Monologue]
You wanna hear a funny story?
So, uh, five years ago, I quit performing live comedy
Because I was beginning to have, uh, severe panic attacks while on stage
Which is not a great place to have them
So I, I quit, and I didn’t perform for five years
And I spent that time trying to improve myself mentally
And you know what? I did! I got better
I got so much better, in fact, that in January of 2020
I thought, “You know what? I should start performing again
I’ve been hiding from the world and I need to re-enter”
And then, the funniest thing happened
Are you feeling nervous? Are you having fun?
It’s almost over, it’s just begun
Don’t overthink this, look in my eye
Don’t be scared, don’t be shy
Come on in, the water’s fine
You say the ocean’s rising like I give a sh1t
You say the whole world’s ending, honey, it already did
You’re not gonna slow it, Heaven knows you tried
Got it? Good, now get inside
We’re goin’ to go where everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
We’re goin’ to go where everybody knows
Everybody knows
Come on, get your fin’ hands up
Get on out of your seat
All eyes on me, all eyes on me
Hey, come on, get your fin’ hands up
Get on out of your seats
All eyes on me, all eyes on me, yeah
Heads down, pray for me
Heads down now, pray for me
I said get your fin’ hands up
Get up, get up
I’m talkin’ to you, get the f up Get your fin’ hands up
Get on out of your seat
All eyes on me, all eyes on me
Ayy, fin’ get your fin’ hands up
Get on out of your seat
All eyes on me, all eyes on me, yeah
Come on, heads down, pray for me
Heads down now, pray for me
I said get your fin’ hands up
Get on—
All eyes on me, all eyes on me
You didn’t say “Simon says”.
The original from 2016 is better yet . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYy0o-J0x20
That one is also really awesome. But less lonesome and pertinent to anxiety generalized to societal downfall.
Wow! Blast from the past. I think he was the first YouTuber I’d ever heard of. My good friend from high school was a big fan. I thought it was pretty funny, but didn’t really get why he was always pushing those videos on me.
(This will also not be for everyone…)
And yet, it was fun rewatching after all these year. Thanks for the reminder, TRN.
He was pretty talented, still is apparently.
He looks like Max now
Her voice is amazing in the cover. Thanks for sharing.
One of my favorite comedy song writers/performers is Stephen Lynch. Here is Tennessee (listener discretion is advised):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6VjNmyv_i4
I wonder what he could do with the Obama/Biden/Harris set.
I really enjoyed his movie Eighth Grade.