When Robert Kelly sat down to make a music video about the importance of social distancing amid the COVID-19 outbreak, he didn’t expect much to come of it.
But by the time the 68-year-old Rindge resident was getting ready for bed on March 25, the day he first posted the video, “Stay the [expletive] at Home” had already been viewed tens of thousands of times. By Tuesday, the video, which was originally posted to the online video-sharing platform TikTok, had received several million views across multiple platforms, including YouTube and Facebook.
“Before midnight [on March 25], it was at 50,000 views on TikTok,” Kelly said. “The next day I woke up, and it was at a million views.”
Since then, he said, he’s been contacted by media outlets from around the world, including England, Japan and Taiwan, to talk about it.
It all started when one of Kelly’s friends sent him a poem by Australian comedian Chris Franklin, who posted the poem on his Facebook page on March 24.
Kelly, who is a regular on the local music scene, then decided to put his piano-playing skills to work and made a song of it.
The 83-second jingle emphasizes the importance of staying away from others to help slow the spread of the highly contagious novel coronavirus, driving the point home with a bit of humor and sharp language courtesy of Franklin’s poem. Kelly said it took him 24 different takes to get the song just right.
When Kelly saw the video was getting a lot of attention, he decided to reach out to Franklin to let him know about it. The video opens with Kelly giving a shout out to Franklin for writing the words, and the comedian is also credited at the end.
By March 30, the video had gotten so much attention, the two had it jointly copyrighted, Kelly said.
On Tuesday afternoon, Kelly — who said he has been inundated with calls — announced on his Facebook page that he would be working with Boston-based manager Matthew Valentinas to handle his music career.
“[Valentinas] is in charge of my career from this moment on,” Kelly said with a laugh when asked how having a manager would affect him. He added that Valentinas is now the point of contact for anyone looking to work with him, and will help him with bookings, media relations, even advising him on how to dress.
Franklin shared Kelly’s video to his own Facebook page several days after it was posted and encouraged his followers to have a listen. Franklin also posted on Facebook that he’s working with a number of Australian musicians to compose a rock version, and Kelly said he’s contacted the comedian about contributing.
Meanwhile, due to the song’s widespread success, Kelly began to hear anecdotes about children singing the expletive-laced ditty. So he recorded a follow-up titled “Stay the Heck at Home.”
Kelly has lived in Rindge for nearly three decades, after purchasing property in 1991 and completing construction on the home where he still lives today, in 1993. A native of Cambridge, Mass., Kelly enjoyed a long career in telecommunications, living in various communities before retiring in 2006.
But music has always been a part of his life, and he said he began learning to play piano before he was a year old. Over the years, he has played in several bands, and said he typically plays a monthly show at Machina Arts in Keene and also performs occasionally in Portland, Maine, and other venues around New England.
He’s also been writing songs for decades, but none of them have become as popular as this recent composition. He said he’s been able to write more music in the years since he retired, but it’s been a longtime interest.
“I’ve been playing music all that time, writing stupid little songs and having a good time doin’ it,” he said.
As for “Stay the [expletive] at Home,” Kelly said it never crossed his mind that the silly song with a serious message would have such an impact.
“I had no idea that it was going to [be so popular],” he said. “I figured it would go around to my friends maybe, but that’s about it.”
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