The second song I have picked for my shortlist is Old Red Eyes Is Back by The Beautiful South. The track is from 0898 and was released in February 1992.
The lyrics are about a man named 'Old Red', clearly a man suffering with alcoholism. The verses detail Old Red's drinking habits and how it is affecting his health; "He pours another drink and listens to his body thaw" before the final verse announces; "Old Red he died..." The chorus reminisces about the things he has sacrificed for his drink "...all the things I could have done instead" The subject matter is a common theme throughout the Beautiful South's material, but 'Old Red Eyes Is Back' is arguably the most graphic account of the perils of alcoholism amongst their song catalogue.
The idea I had for a music video for this song would be both performance/narrative. The narrative would be solely centred around Old Red in various different locations: a bedroom with a floor littered with empty bottles, a park, outside an off licence, in a pub. He'd be dressed in shabby clothing and never without a bottle of whiskey/vodka. The video would be interspersed during the verses (not the chorus) with the artist sat at a piano singing the song.
The only problem I can see with this video is that it would be really hard to not have a similar concept as the original video to this song, purely by the nature of the lyrics. I'd be constantly comparing mine to the original and so would others.
No comments:
Post a Comment