The video is about a crazy fan. We start with her in her night clothes making breakfast while this very music video starts. Music videos like infinite recursion. We even get all the usual stats on her TV and not on our TV. Singer tells us that he doesn't want to be president or Superman. I agree with the former but not the latter. Sure, Superman has a lot of responsibilities, but he can freaken fly!
The fan's cat runs by the wicked witch of the east's legs. Instead of seeing her victim we watch the fan give us some none-so-subtle clues that she's a tad cookoo. She has Fastball magazines, stickers, and pictures on her PC. We watch our heroine IM her friend who is wondering aloud about the mysterious disappearance of Fastball. The reply? "I KILLED THEM AND THEY'RE IN MY HOUSE!" Smiley, smiley, smiley. Well, she doesn't confess her crime but she seems pretty nonchalant over it. This is a pretty dark video.
Singer tells us that he doesn't want any responsibility because he doesn't know right from wrong and he's just an empty, driftless soul. He doesn't even know about his girlfriend. I guess that explains this video. Tell your crazy girlfriend that you're a weenie who's wasting her time and she'll gut you! We follow her around as she goes to exercise and we more Fastball merchandise, including life size cardboard cutouts. Is it me, or are life size cardboard cutouts just creepy? I don't know, I guess we can spend all day talking about what creeps us out about fans. We see another picture hung on the wall that reveals that the fan actually met the guys. And for that, they deserved to die!
Speaking of creepy, the band's faces are on her pillows. She's an adult who owns a huge house. This should be beyond her now. We get the chorus and singer tells us that he's the rain on his girlfriend's fire escape. Meaning: Umm, something. He's annoying? He'll get her only escape from a deadly fire somewhat slippery? She doesn't even need a fire escape; she lives in her own house. I'm not sure what that means but he tells her that he's not the superhero she's made him out to be so just treat him like a normal person. I'm still leaning on weenie but I guess I can see what the song is about now.
He continues to sing that he doesn't want to meet her dad or be her destiny. Ok, so the song is about a guy who is singing to a disturbed fan, and not a girlfriend, and he's trying to tell her that he's not a god. Got it. I just wish they didn't combine it with a video of her leaving the band members' corpses lying around. It makes you wonder if the band has an attention disorder.
Anyway, one band member drowned and the other is dead under her bed. I'd make a joke, but I'm not even getting in the same area as going there. She finishes dressing and gets toast as some guy on her TV announces the band is still missing after 72 hours. Way to interrupt the music video, jerk!
Is her fridge full of nothing but bread? And what's up with the chicken in her closet?
So finally Fastball's biggest fan is dressed and she looks very good for her day at work. You can really see her being good at whatever job it is that makes enough money for this house and nice car. She goes to her car and she can't open it as the music video ends. So she can either invite the band over and kill them or kill them and drag them to her house, but she can't unlock her car, huh?
Suddenly, the actress playing the fan breaks character and starts complaining. The band members exit the house and the director tells everybody to start from the beginning. Huh, I guess they added this to make the music video seem less morose.
It took me a while to understand this music video. At first, I thought it was about some whiney teen romance. The song at first sounded like a loser whining to his girlfriend who was delusional about where their relationship was going. Eventually I figured out that the singer isn't talking to a girlfriend, but to someone he has no interest in at all. Then the song and music video made sense. He's trying to tell this girl to back off. He's just a person, not someone who will know everything, say the right things, and make her the happiest gal in the world. I honestly though I was watching some emo-y video about a band trying to feel better about itself by mock killing itself off.
This is a good song now that I understand it. The music video is just right for it.
The awesome part is that you can be an obsessed fan of someone and still have a great job and home. Very inspirational.
2 comments:
Fun Fact: Tork watched the uncensored version of this video. Care to guess what was so incredibly shocking that MTV demanded it be censored for TV?
No, not that.
Check the first screenshot in this post. That's what they censored. That terribly terribly offensive computer screen.
MTV is run by a bunch of uptight old ladies.
The next video is pretty. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHg-PhseKOQ
I totally think it's possible to be an obsessed fan and still have a nice home. Look at me. I'm batshit insane for Colin Meloy yet I still have a nice apartment, a car, a big screen TV, two cats and a fancy job in a Manhattan skyscraper.
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