My Top 2000 Songs #1181: I Love You All

The 2014 film Frank is one of my favorite movies about music, and about art in general. Inspired at least in part by British music personality Chris Sievey, who performed as "Frank Sidebottom" wearing a paper-mache mask, the movie also serves as a sort of fictionalized counterpart to the Daniel Johnston documentary (which is also a must-see). The story follows the titular character as his outsider band and strange music gain some mainstream attention. It's a dark, fascinating, thought-provoking exploration of the intersection between artistic genius and mental illness, fandom and exploitation, and art versus commerce.

The movie culminates in the character (played by Michael Fassbender, a world away from his far better known work in the X-Men movies), shorn of his protective mask and utterly broken after a failed attempt at selling out, reconnecting with his band (the unforgettable and unpronounceable Soronprfbs) in a vacant bar, the act of musical creation cobbled together on the fly from random observations and internal delusions. The resulting song, "I Love You All," isn't necessarily an easy listen on its own (though they did record a more polished "radio" version, still with Fassbender on vocals); but in the context of the movie, it's one of the most emotionally devastating scenes (not to mention depictions of the artistic process and mental health) I've ever seen.

As seen in Frank:

The polished alternate version:

I was tempted to go with "Secure The Galactic Perimeter"...

Here's a cover:

Another cover: