New to asl! Need help glossing a song!

[seraydarm]

Hi everyone! im learning ASl at west broward high. we have a final coming up where we have to sign a song. no matter how much i practice glossing songs, i cant do it. i need help please! the song is:: "turn all the lights on" by T-Pain

Turn all the lights on...

[T-Pain]
Take off your shoes (shoes shoes)
Ain’t nobody gon’ see nothin'
Bring out the booze (booze booze)
Baby girl stop frontin’
Ain’t nothin’ to lose (lose lose)
And I ain’t gotta work no more
F-ck that place, f-ck my boss
I’m about to ball girl where the cars

So I’m going hard
I need some lights, it’s way too dark
Oh yeah I’m going in
And now I’m with my friends
Let the party begin!

[Hook]
Turn all the lights on!
A-A-A-A-A-A-A A-Ah
A-A-A-A-A-A-A
Turn all the lights on!
A-A-A-A-A-A-A A-Ah
A-A-A-A-A-A-A

Put your hands up if you’re going hard
I need some lights, it’s way too dark
Oh yeah I’m going in
Okay okay I’m with my friends
Let the party begin
Turn all the lights on!

[Ne-Yo]
Give me that glass, little bit of ice
Pour that rain in there
This must be her song
Dancing like ain’t nobody else in here
Sexy as she wanna be and she
Dancing next so close to me
I said please excuse
You steppin’ on expensive shoes
Shawty is a perfect ten
This angelic body made you sin
I love the way you get it in
Come over here and shake it for a gentleman
Cause you want it

She’s going hard
I need some lights it’s way too dark
Oh yeah I’m going in
And now I’m with my friends
Let the party begin!

[Hook]
Turn all the lights on!
A-A-A-A-A-A-A A-Ah
A-A-A-A-A-A-A
Turn all the lights on!
A-A-A-A-A-A-A A-Ah
A-A-A-A-A-A-A

Put your hands up if you’re going hard
I need some lights, it’s way too dark
Oh yeah I’m going in
Okay okay I’m with my friends
Let the party begin
Turn all the lights on!

[Ne-Yo - Bridge]
I’m drinking something
I’m touching something
They need to turn up the lights
(Turn up the lights)
I’m drinking something
I’m touching something
They need to turn up the lights
(Turn up the lights)
I’m drinking something tonight
I’m touching something tonight
They need to turn up the lights
(Turn up the lights)
I’m drinking something tonight
I’m touching something tonight
They need to turn up the lights
Somebody...

[Hook]
Turn all the lights on!
A-A-A-A-A-A-A AAA
A-A-A-A-A-A-A
Turn all the lights on!
A-A-A-A-A-A-A AAA
A-A-A-A-A-A-A

Put your hands up if you’re going hard
I need some lights it’s way too dark
Ooh yeah I’m going in
Okay okay I’m with my friends
Let the party begin
Turn all the lights on

 

[kellycat]

Wow, this will be quite a project. Here is what I would suggest...write in NORMAL words what each verse is saying. Don't worry about rhyme or rhythm. It won't matter in ASL.
For example:

Give me that glass, little bit of ice
Pour that rain in there
This must be her song
Dancing like ain’t nobody else in here
Sexy as she wanna be and she
Dancing next so close to me
I said please excuse
You steppin’ on expensive shoes
Shawty is a perfect ten
This angelic body made you sin
I love the way you get it in
Come over here and shake it for a gentleman
Cause you want it

So in this verse, he isn't asking for actual RAIN to be poured into the glass, right? So trying any word-for-word translation would be silly and meaningless. Think about the POINT of it all.

That glass over there, fill it up.
She likes the song, and is really dancing
She comes up to me, I say back off (hey, she's stepping on his shoes, right?)
She is really pretty, sexy
I like how she dances
He tells her come here and dance next to me.

That's really the way I interpret the meaning of the verse. So THAT might be easier to gloss into ASL than the original rap lyrics. I don't know this song, but rap/hip hop can be very fast, so it's okay if your gloss ends up shorter than the words in the original. Again, you're interpreting IDEAS, not words. Don't get hung up on finding a sign for "shawty". The idea is a gal in the club. At the beginning he says "Take off your shoes (shoes, shoes)". It would be weird to have the word "shoes" signed 3 times like he says it.

I would try this and then come back here if you really get stuck on ASL phrasing for a specific part. (Hey, I'm a teacher. I'm all about giving homework, letting you have the satisfaction of a job well done yourself.)

 

[Nicolette730]

That's a really hard song to choose, was it assigned to you? all those swears may upset your teacher, I would many suggest going with a song with less swears that is not a rap because rap dosn't always use real words there for it is hard to translate