It’s hard to make Cee-Lo Green’s “Fuck You” even more gleefully fun than it already is, but this woman’s American Sign Language performance of the song manages to bump it up another notch or two up the happiness meter.
Awesome, right? Here’s another take from Christine Alexander of Lazy Fairy Improv:
They may look similar to non-ASL-speakers, but the first is a much more literal translation of the lyrics vs. Alexander’s very loose but hilarious interpretation of the song’s message and general attitude. Those ASL translators you see dancing next to the stage at music festivals are trying to hit a middle ground between those two, conveying the feeling of the song in addition to the lyrics. This guy knows what I'm talking about:
The Internet is lousy with ASL interpretations of varying quality, but if you want to go exploring for more, a good place to start is with YouTube user tiffanythill, whose interpretations are really excellent… at least, they are according to my ASL-speaking cousin; honestly, these all look pretty great to me. But you can see the nuance in this video of her performing Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love”: Rather than just sign the words “I” “bleed” and “love,” she extends her thumb, index finger, and pinky (the ASL sign for “I love you”) slowly from her heart. Bleeding love, get it? Pretty neat.