I was listening to Josh Ritter's newest yesterday, specifically "The Curse," which I've said already is my favorite song of the year so far. I love it because it is so goofy and strange and frankly a little dumb, yet also heartbreaking and crafty and frankly pretty brilliant. There are so many different colors, different emotions throughout the song. I can't think of many other songs off the top of my head that make me laugh and also make me a little teary. The whole of Andrew Bird's Mysterious Production of Eggs gets at a similar combination of humor and melancholy, though I'm not sure any specific song pulls that off as well as "The Curse" does.
Anyway, I was listening to the song and was thinking about its imagery, and how it feels almost cinematic. I thought how it would be so easy to make a video for this song and simply have two actors pantomime the lyrics... and how much of a failure that would be. To do this story in images--a mummy falling in love with an archaeologist--would emphasize the looniness of the conceit and would destroy all the heart. It would be a catastrophe.
Then I saw the video. Of course! Puppets! This video is totally brilliant and captures everything the song puts forth, both the silliness and the seriousness. I swear I sniffled a little by the end.
well jeez, don't get all teary when we go to this...
http://www.californiasciencecenter.org/GenInfo/PlanningYourVisit/Hours/mummies/mummies.php
you'll totally embarrass me
Posted by: wifey | June 24, 2010 at 09:38 PM