Billy Joel and Blackberrying (brought to you by generic fic titles)

[nineveh_uk]

With the possible exception of something by Abba, I think that Uptown Girl is the first pop song I remember. Yesterday I watched the original video for the first time. The song is a lot of fun. The video - is of its time. I lost it with the initial synchronised spanner use.

"Billy Joel - Uptown Girl" (Watch on YouTube)

Today I took the car to the garage for its MOT and biannual* service. I can confidentally say that the two had nothing in common.

Also today I learnt that there's an Ashes to Ashes sequence of it. How did I not know?

In other news, I also went blackberrying and managed to catch my forearm not across a bramble, but a still very lively stinging nettle. Serves me right for forgoing my usual protective blackberrying leather jacket in favour of enjoying the weather.

*I do not do a lot of driving, and this year I did even less than usual. I am exactly the sort of person who ought to belong to a car club, except that there wasn't a convenient one when I was at the point of being interested, and personality-wise I am a lot better at dealing with sunk costs than paying each time I hire.

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

At times like this it's hard to remember that Billy Joel also brought us the incredibly depressing "Allentown"* (about waiting for your factory to be closed) and "The Down-Easter Alexa" (about being a struggling Rhode Island day-boat fisherman when the fish stocks have crashed). The video manages the difficult feat of making the Ashes to Ashes parody look sensible by comparison!



* Though admittedly when Billy Joel sings about industrial decay in Pennsylvania, it's much more perky than when Bruce Springsteen does the same for New Jersey.

[tree_and_leaf]

Although it turns out that the video for "Allentown" is very similar in style, which given that it's serious social comment, makes it even more ridiculous.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I've never come across that before (let's just say my knowledge of 80s pop is not strong) - I see what you mean about the rather odd combination of lyrics and visual imagery!

Still nothing to beat the synchronised spanners, though!

[tree_and_leaf]

I have to admit I only know "Allentown" because of Lawyer's efforts to educate me about his home state; I'm not sure how well-known it is generally, at least in the UK.

Nothing will ever beat the synchronised spanners.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I confess I had rather forgotten the spanners ...

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

I have only been able to watch a few seconds of it... production has smothered the song's message before we even reach the video, I fear.

As for 'Uptown Girl', it reminds me of about my only excursion, and the organised if mild humiliation there, into teenage partydom, though thankfully there is merely the slightest ache of a wound nearly three decades on.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, that does sound painful.

[white_hart]

I still have the puncture-marks from last week's blackberrying excursion. Mind you, I also still have a jar and a half of the very nice jam my mother made with the blackberries, so it's not all bad :-)

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Blackberrying really is chock full of health and safety risk.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Not as chock full as Elizabethan banquets in Christ Church, though ... ;-)

[azdak.livejournal.com]

That's hilarious! I'd seen the Ashes to Ashes sequence but I had no idea it was parodying Billy Joel's own video (what a fine proletarian sneer he produces at the beginning!)

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It is a magnificent proletarian sneer, the very embodiment of class struggle.

I've not seen much of Ashes to Ashes - I think it was on when I just wasn't in the mood - but I may have to remedy that.

[tree_and_leaf]

I was also very amused by the chauffeur, who is doing a very good job of looking bemused and as if he just wants to finish his shift and go home.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

If I were Christie Brinkley, the chauffeur would definitely be my man of choice in the original video.

[tree_and_leaf]

Absolutely!