videos:
rarely have i seen a man quaff a burger like neil did
rarely have i seen a man quaff a burger like neil did
neil young – wonderin’ – sept, 1983.
i'd made a couple of dodgy videos, as you do - when the phone in our berwick street in london office rang one day. it was neil young inviting me to make my first american video. this would be 1983, two years into my burgeoning career. i first met neil in person at his ranch, just south of san francisco, when i flew up with his ubiqitous manager elliot roberts, who resembled the actor from 'young frankenstein', gene wilder. i pitched my idea while neil sat cross-legged and barefoot against the redwoods, slurping on some funny tea. "it's about a guy who finds it hard to keep up with life," i began. feeling the momentum of the moment and doubtless fuelled by a little jet-lag and caffeine. i continued: "life speeds around him, like some dream." it could have gone either way - elliot's eyes were fixed on neil. then the man who, to be honest, i had at that point thought to be a 'hippie fart' lowered his shades. "i like this character you've thought up. i am this guy," he smiled - and fixed me with the most fuck-you, razor sharp set of eyes i have still more to see to this day. and here's a man - me - who used to know iggy pop pretty well± we all reconvened in l.a., a week or so later, and neil arrived in a car that we had chosen from his fabulous collection of over a hundred, kept in an aircraft hanger on the ranch's far reaches. this car we were to use in the video. he literally was my first guide around l.a. he physically drove me about the city for three solid days, in a 1950s convertible that resembled a jukebox on wheels and with fins like stilettos. rarely too have i seen a man quaff a burger like [neil] did for comedy effect. as we toured about, stopping at american versions of greasy spoons, gruff, burly, nicotine-y truck drivers in trucks that were clearly extensions of their own manhoods leaned out and asked neil by name if the car was a '56. "that a '56, neil?" "no, a '57." neil young knew everyone in town. to achieve the visual effect i had sold neil on, i came up with the idea of running the camera at half speed [12 f.p.s.] and doing the playback for neil with the song for him to mime to similarly. though when back to blighty the sound did not go with neil's lips. oh deary me. though after much [jiggery-pokery] in the edit suite, a place called 'visons', next to where the pizza express on dean street is now, we finally got it together, and the nice side effect - a kind of technical glitch - of neil's jerky movements. this is the video you see today, twenty-three years or so later. [read what neil young says about tim pope in his biography 'shakey'.] [the basement room where tim pope thought up ideas, including wonderin'.] [photo of pope, up through the stretch limo roof, this same trip.][polaroid of tim pope on shoot, the carnaby street shirt neil borrowed.]
i'd made a couple of dodgy videos, as you do - when the phone in our berwick street in london office rang one day. it was neil young inviting me to make my first american video. this would be 1983, two years into my burgeoning career. i first met neil in person at his ranch, just south of san francisco, when i flew up with his ubiqitous manager elliot roberts, who resembled the actor from 'young frankenstein', gene wilder. i pitched my idea while neil sat cross-legged and barefoot against the redwoods, slurping on some funny tea. "it's about a guy who finds it hard to keep up with life," i began. feeling the momentum of the moment and doubtless fuelled by a little jet-lag and caffeine. i continued: "life speeds around him, like some dream." it could have gone either way - elliot's eyes were fixed on neil. then the man who, to be honest, i had at that point thought to be a 'hippie fart' lowered his shades. "i like this character you've thought up. i am this guy," he smiled - and fixed me with the most fuck-you, razor sharp set of eyes i have still more to see to this day. and here's a man - me - who used to know iggy pop pretty well± we all reconvened in l.a., a week or so later, and neil arrived in a car that we had chosen from his fabulous collection of over a hundred, kept in an aircraft hanger on the ranch's far reaches. this car we were to use in the video. he literally was my first guide around l.a. he physically drove me about the city for three solid days, in a 1950s convertible that resembled a jukebox on wheels and with fins like stilettos. rarely too have i seen a man quaff a burger like [neil] did for comedy effect. as we toured about, stopping at american versions of greasy spoons, gruff, burly, nicotine-y truck drivers in trucks that were clearly extensions of their own manhoods leaned out and asked neil by name if the car was a '56. "that a '56, neil?" "no, a '57." neil young knew everyone in town. to achieve the visual effect i had sold neil on, i came up with the idea of running the camera at half speed [12 f.p.s.] and doing the playback for neil with the song for him to mime to similarly. though when back to blighty the sound did not go with neil's lips. oh deary me. though after much [jiggery-pokery] in the edit suite, a place called 'visons', next to where the pizza express on dean street is now, we finally got it together, and the nice side effect - a kind of technical glitch - of neil's jerky movements. this is the video you see today, twenty-three years or so later. [read what neil young says about tim pope in his biography 'shakey'.] [the basement room where tim pope thought up ideas, including wonderin'.] [photo of pope, up through the stretch limo roof, this same trip.][polaroid of tim pope on shoot, the carnaby street shirt neil borrowed.]
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