Sam Amidon is an extremely creative American Folk singer, and is currently producing music. He is a beautiful storyteller through his words, melodies, and music videos. Let’s look at the song “Blue Mountain” from his 2014 album entitled Lily-O. This album is a very beautiful work in its own and has top notch musicians on it consisting of Bill Frisell, a legendary jazz/folk guitarist.
The lyrics to Amidon’s Blue Mountains come from a traditional folk song called “Across the blue mountains,” although he leaves out quite a bit of the middle part. The song tells the story of a married man who asks a younger girl, Katie, to run away with him and cross the blue mountains. I think the music video to this song is an excellent representation and addition to the feelings conveyed in the song. In the music video, there is an almost slow motion and nostalgic effect happening. The video mostly consists of a girl (Katie) lying on the ground and going through some sort of conflict. This conflict is in herself, as she has to choose between being safe at home or running away with the love of her life. Her expressions and motions broadcasts the innocence of being a younger woman running away with an older man. In the original lyrics of this folk song, there is a part that Amidon left out that shows how Katie’s mother is desperately trying to talk her out of it. Although Katie’s mother is never mentioned in Amidon’s version, I believe her mother can be seen in the video. At around 3:58 in the video, we can see Katie on the ground with two pairs of arms reaching out to her. She crawls into one pair of arms that belong to the man she is running away with. However, I believe that the other pair of arms is meant to be her Mother’s, as she does not want Katie to go. This video beautifully illustrates the conflict that Katie must face between the love of her life and home. This video adds to the story of the song in a positive way.
“In spite of subject matter that’s often dark, the music on Lily-O somehow feels deeply reassuring (NPR).” The music video to Blue Mountain also contains a sense of reassurance, especially with the focus on Katie and the objects around her. Specifically, hands bring by miniature horses and houses that go along with the story being told. The expression of Katie’s face reflects wonder and reassurance that she’s making the right decision by running away with him.
I believe the sign of good art (music or visual) is when it brings a feeling of nostalgia even when it’s the first time you’ve been exposed to it. In an interview, Joni Mitchell said something along the lines of “If you hear my music and you see me in it, you’re missing the point. If you hear my music and see yourself, now you’re getting something out of it.” With Sam Amidon’s Blue Mountain, I definitely see myself in it, and others do too. A YouTuber named Pikasde commented “I don’t know why but it reminds me of my first love. TY Sam for bringing back those emotions. Just thank you.” I think it is beautiful that a piece of art and film can stir up such emotions. Others commented “thank you sam, magic piece of film here (Brendan Timmons)” and “wat an amazing expression of feelings..man this video just rocks..(Vishal Nagabhushan)” and more. It seems that the reception of this video has been generally positive and people describe it as magical. I would describe it as magical too.
I believe this music video adds to Sam Amidon’s musical experience in a positive way. The film plays an important role in the storytelling, as it goes beyond what the words say.
Great music video and good response. I totally agree with most of what you’re saying and if anything just have stuff to add that I noticed but didn’t really see mentioned much. There is definitely a mood and air of nostalgia here, the classic coming of age song; that excitement of embarking on a journey, still innocent etc. I think there are quiet a few things that add to this that weren’t mentioned. An important thing I noticed is the lighting, it seems to be around sunset for most of the video, not too bright but not to dark with a definite shadow being cast. I think this lighting is related with nostalgia for us, just as highly overcast day is sad, and very sunny is happy. Sunsets have this nostalgia quality because they are generally very beautiful and we want those beautiful hues that we see to last forever. There is this bittersweet feeling that occurs when the sun finally sets. The day is over, everything that happened that day has ended, you didn’t want it to end, but it ended all the same. You can’t go back and experience it again, all you can do is remember how beautiful it was. This goes hand in hand with the feeling of being at a crossroads in the song. A decision is to be made, its implications are unknown, and yet it still needs to be made. Once the decision is made there is no turning back; just like when the sun sets. It is that feeling of inevitably growing up that haunts us all.
This video also relays heavily on the intimacy of the human face. The girl isn’t simply lying on the ground, there is much more too it than that. She is often making a face of comfort and security, much like the face a cat makes when being petted or the face someone makes when they are in true comfort, or cuddled up with a lover. Her guard is down, and like a mirror we see that and let our guard down. It’s easier for us to let our guard down because it’s just a video and if we are alone no one can see us experiencing these feelings. This intimacy adds to the ‘realness’ and ‘genuine’ nature of the music video. You can tell that she isn’t hiding anything, she isn’t trying to be something she’s not, she’s not fronting or flexing, etc. This level of comfort and security in the eyes of another partner is seldom reached, and so it is natural that when people see it, it brings them to their own moments of intimacy on this level.
I think these two elements also add greatly to the nostalgia factor of this song.