In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the ‘Automatic’ music video – for the title song on Rick Springfield’s new album – that was released today.
The video made me like the song even more – (made me miss the MTV of the ’80s – when music videos helped make songs come to life.)
Let’s analyze the video, shall we?
It starts with a monkey with cymbals, an image that represents childhood – and RS certainly likes his toys (as evidenced in recent IG photos, where he shared pictures of his toy robot, Clive, hanging out on the tour bus.)
The monkey with cymbals has also been featured in sci-fi and horror films (see more history of this monkey here.)
Next the monkey is on multiple old TV screens, and screens seem to play a large part in this video,as band members are on their phones in multiple scenes.
When a black-and-white RS starts singing the song, it’s kind of jittery and has the feeling of an old movie when something wasn’t lined up right. Then bam – a blast of color when you reach the chorus. RS in a gold suit (suit and Converse remiminscent of his ’80s look and the priest collar since he’s now an ordained minister who can officiate at weddings).
Also all decked out in colored suits is his band members bassist Siggy in green, drummer Jorge in red and keyboardist Tim in purple. Guest guitarist in yellow is Mat from the duo Dauzat St. Marie, who opened up some Stripped Down shows for RS in the past. Apparently George, his regular guitarist, who lives in Nashville, wasn’t able to come to town for the filming of the video. (RS mentioned this in a posted video from a recent show, I have no inside knowledge about this, as usual.)
Next the band members are driving around in the car (in a slightly worn license plate that looks like WRK DOG – get that reference?)
When I was trying to figure out what that image was after the license plate, it looks like some kind of keyboard. Going frame-by-frame, there are lines of type, but though I tried to slow it down enough to read it, I could only catch a few lines, which look like text under social media posts.
thecommonwanderer These are
thanks! And to you too!
team! Just having fun trying some new stuff.
dalykas visame sviete! (According to Google translate, this is Lithuanian for ‘thing all over the world’) Also saw a mention of Iceland, which is kind of funny because my sister is headed there this week.
Not sure if it’s a full message – those were the only ones I could catch. But it reminded me of the hidden messages on the inner circle of the fan club album from the ’80s. (IYKYK)
At one point, RS looks like he’s descending into heaven as the band walks through a city street but they are all distracted by their phones so they don’t notice.
In the following scene, everyone else is still in color, but RS is initially back to black-and-white (but then is quickly color again).
During the line “Living in a world of hypersensitivity, everywhere I look, everybody wants validity,” the screen is covered with social media Like buttons.
The next line, “Walking on eggshells, state my proclivity, somebody somewhere’ll want to take a shot at me” seems to refer to today’s society where people get attacked or “cancelled” if others don’t agree with them or disapprove of their beliefs or actions. (The band is standing completely still during these lines, maybe to symbolize how many ‘freeze’ when somebody else is being attacked because they don’t want to get involved?)
The video ends with a black-and-white RS unplugging and the monkey falling.
Lots to dive into with these lyrics, I’m sure this only scratches the surface. (And I may be completely wrong with everything I’ve written here, but it was fun trying to analize it.)
Such a cool video and it made me appreciate the song more. Although I’m still trying to figure out some of the lines, overall it seems like a commentary on the state of the world today.
Let’s end this day with a nice review about a recent RS concert, shall we?
Rick Springfield stunned Massachusetts with non-stop fun
As you’re about to see below, Rick Springfield is timeless. The night changed the moment he hit the stage. Right before our eyes, we saw an actual TV star, movie star and rock star. His set opened with memorable clips of all of media success stories. While you see his uncanny modern day youth on TV and pictures, to see him in person is stunning. He looks YOUNGER THAN EVER. I was lucky enough to meet him again backstage. We met Rick in 2006. He looks YOUNGER TODAY. The moment he walked out, the audience knew we were in the presence of a true rock star. From that second, his charm, charisma and energy owned the night. It was a wonderful reminder that how great our life was, in the 1980’s. Rick made everyone feel GOOD, not old.
Jaybeau Jones, wror.com
My Rick Springfield crush 