Lyrics and Movie Videos

Everyone has their favorite song that they listen to constantly. When you finally see the music video, does it match your expectation or even connects to the lyrics? I have watch many music videos where the for example the song maybe about clouds, but the video shows pink elephants. Song writers work hard to create lyrics in the vocal range of the singers. Even though the singer might make the song a hit, the music video is also a part of the popularity. So my question is why do directors create videos that don't reflect the images in the lyrics? To Answer this I will use James Blunt's video to the song "you're beautiful." For some reason there's an error so I can't get the full screen up here, but if you click the underlined sentence, you can see the video I got from youtube.




James Blunt - You're Beautiful traducido al español

Here are the lyrics:

My life is brilliant My love is pure I saw an angel Of that I'm sure, She smiled at me on the subway, She was with another man But I won't lose any sleep on that Cause I got a plan.You're beautiful You're beautifulYou're beautiful, it's true. I saw your face in a crowded placeAnd I don't know what to do Cause I'll never be with you.Yes she caught my eye, As I walked on by She could see from my face That I was fucking high And I don't think that I'll see her again But we shared a moment That will last til the end.You're beautifulYou're beautiful You're beautiful it's true I saw your face in a crowded placeAnd I don't know what to do Cause I'll never be with you.Lalalalalala Lalalalalala Lalalalala La You're beautiful You're beautiful You're beautiful it's true There must be an angel with a smile on her face When she thought up that I should be with you. But it's to time face the truth, Cause I'll never be with you.....

When I saw the first scene of the video, I was thinking why would guy take off his clothes in below zero degree weather in the middle of the artic? I was confused because the camera remained focused on him throughout the entire song, as he placed his jacket and other items on the snow in a straight line. I thought maybe it would connect to the lyrics if the video was Blunt could see his ex girlfriends face in a crowded room in at a bar or busy street. Then when I finally got to the last scene, James Blunt jumps into the icey ocean, obviously committing sucicde. Hence the line "But its time to face the truth, Cause I'll never be with you."

Now I know why the director chose the setting. He/she wanted the viewers to understand Blunt's agony and lonliness, by placing him in the middle of nowhere. Then there's that shocking last scene, where Blunt jumps into the ocean, it stirs up different reactions. Some people might think "What the Hell' others will think to themselves "Ok, I get it, he killed himself because he can never have her." The song is like a suicide note. Brillant.

This interpretation of Blunt's lyrics made me think about if my own stories and poems were made into a short music video. If the director rearranges my poem/stories, will my characters and images be left out to fit the time frame or media popularity? Would my message have the same impact or be lost completely. I think all song writers go though this problem, they might write the music, but the director has the power to make the decisions on the visual presentation of the song.

To look up different song lyrics try (http://www.metrolyrics.com/ and

www.elyrics.net)