Textual Analysis 2. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home.

Lyrics:


Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my Ma & Pa
Not the way that I do love you

Holy roly, me, oh my, you’re the apple of my eye
Girl, I’ve never loved one like you

Man, oh man, you’re my best friend, I scream it to the nothingness
There ain’t nothin’ that I need

Well, hot & heavy, pumpkin pie, chocolate candy, Jesus Christ
There ain’t nothin’ please me more than you

Chorus:
Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is wherever I’m with you
(2x)
La la la la, take me Home
Baby, I’m coming Home

I’ll follow you into the park, through the jungle, through the dark
Girl, I’ve never loved one like you

Moats & boats & waterfalls, alley ways & pay phone calls
I’ve been everywhere with you

That’s true

We laugh until we think we’ll die, barefoot on a summer night
Nothin’ new is sweeter than with you

And in the streets we’re running free like it’s only you and me
Geez, you’re something to see.

Chorus

“Jade?”
“Alexander?”
“Do you remember that day you fell out of my window?”
“I sure do, you came jumping out after me.”
“Well, you fell on the concrete and nearly broke your ass and you were bleeding all over the place and I rushed you off to the hospital. Do you remember that?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Well, there’s something I never told you about that night.”
“What didn’t you tell me?”
“While you were sitting in the backseat smoking a cigarette you thought was going to be your last, I was falling deep, deeply in love with you and I never told you ‘til just now.”
“Now I know.”

Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is whenever I’m with you
Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is when I’m alone with you

Home
Let me come Home
Home is wherever I’m with you

Ahh, Home
Yes, I am Home
Home is when I’m alone with you.

Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my Ma & Pa!
Moats & boats & waterfalls, alley ways and pay phone calls!

Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is wherever I’m with you
Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is when I’m alone with you


Essay:


The second video I have chosen to analyse is the video for Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros song 'Home'. The music video was released on May 13th 2010 and is the 6th song on their album "Up From Below". The video consists of clips of all the bands favourite memories from the past few years so there isn't a director for this video, the video is entirely made up of clips filmed by the band. The band is made up of many members, the vocals for this song are performed by Alex Elbert and Jade Castrinos. The bands main genre is indie-folk which is a genre also associated with Frank Turner and Mumford and Sons. A lot of music videos in this genre encourage travel and exploration of the world, it also encourages friends to come together and play music and enjoy life. This is shown in Mumford and Sons's video for Winter Winds where the group play music together and are shown walking through the countryside. It's often that videos for this genre will use these type of locations.
The visuals often represent the lyrics, in a generic sense the lyrics speak of a couple who find that they'll always be 'home' as long as they are with the person they love. When the lyrics go "you’re the apple of my eye" we get a brief shot of Elbert's eyes looking to the camera; in most shots they're covered by sun glasses. Also, when the line "I’ll follow you into the park, through the jungle, through the dark" is sung their are clips of Elbert chasing Castrinos through a wooded area which could draw resemblance to a 'jungle'. I think the lyric "I’ve been everywhere with you" is relevant to the whole of the visuals as it shows their adventures over the years together and is probably a lyric to sum up the entire video. They're also shown barefoot when the lyrics go "barefoot on a summer night. I think that it's pretty good that they've found clips to back up the lyrics of their song, I guess in a way they have probably written about their life and what they know so it may not have been so difficult.
The clips chop and change fairly quickly which fits the happy, lively beat of the music. There are also parts in the video where you can hear a trumpet being played or people whistling and the visuals will show people playing a trumpet of whistling to correspond with that. There are also select parts of the video where there will be someone shouting 'HEY!' and people will jump out as if they're saying 'HEY!'. The visuals calm to be longer clips of calm things (people sleeping on a bus, sunsets/rises) when the music slows down at about 04:05.
I think the record company are looking to sell this track as a 'something-to-listen-to-at-summer-whilst-with-your-mates' track. The video screams: fun, travel, exploring and adventure. I think the record label know that these kind of things are popular among today's youth and will want to promote the band with this image. It is a fairly new image for the band as their previous videos have been odd to say the least. Having only two previous videos, both are set in the desert. The opening for the video Kisses Over Babylon reminded me very much of the biblical story of Jesus's struggle for 40 days and 40 nights. It would appear Elbert is singing in a foreign language throughout the video. I'd say their song 'Home' represents a change in image and genre and the video is relevant to the song which is upbeat and happy. 
I wouldn't say that any members of the band are put on sexual display or sexualised in any way. The main message in this video is promoting love, not sex or lust. I'd say that some of the female members of the band show their femininity by wearing dresses or twirling a red parasol but regardless of that they're not really sexualised. The only notion of looking I could pick up on was that you can tell the clips have been filmed using a hand-held video recorder so there is the notion that these are private memories that have been personally made, unlike many commercially made videos.
I couldn't pick up on any inter textual references in this video, I think it's a very unique kind of video that hasn't been planned to have any inter textual references. It just documents a stage in the bands life. The video is a mix of concept and performance based as the band is seen performing at different stages in their 'home-videos'. 
I think this video is fully appropriate to create a new, fun image for the band and for the song. I think the idea behind this video is fun and I think the caption the band put under the video sums it up well: "This video for Home is a collection of some of our favorite memories over the past few years. We hope it feels like Home wherever you are watching this."