Video Battle of the Day: Edwyn Collins - A Girl Like You
May 20th, 2009 | 5:45 pm est |
There’s no battle about the song itself, since nobody in their right mind could deny that “A Girl Like You” is one of the great jams of all-time. It rescued Edwyn Collins from unfair obscurity for one, that’s justification for greatness right there. Secondly, the unstoppable riff, the thundering beat and Collins’ knowing croon sound just as drop-dead amazing the 500th time you hear it as it did the first time nearly 15 long, long years ago. The dispute comes with the dueling videos.
One was directed by John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants and it’s cute, sweet and shiny with lots of happy people grooving about happily.
The other was shot by Gavin Evans and it’s altogether more sexy and dangerous-looking with Edwyn playing a leering version of Elvis.
Which video you prefer probably says a lot about who you are. Regular readers of the AllMusic Blog can probably figure which one I would pick. How do you vote?
There is a “seductive darkness” to this song; the first video has some nice cartoons in it but it’s all a bit too cute. The 2nd video also has some weird images but much darker/sexier, this fits much better I think………………. would still be a GREAT song even with a Smurfs video though! (come to think of it, there is only 1 Smurf girl too, so….. it would make sense :)
Edwyn Collins’ best ever?………. absolute classic!
The first 18 seconds of the second vid…. man, the entire video should be like that, sexy dancing silhouettes, so 90s. I´ll pick the second one. cheers!
Wow, both videos emit such 90’s vibe in the fad and trendiness that made the decade full of “the next big thing.” Looking back now I’m just glad that each propelled the song over the airwaves, but both are equally horrendous. I do like #1 since it shows more of the instrumentation and I’m a sucker for the animations. The second video has better style design, but it’s simple production is repetitive and boring. I am more entertained than revolted by #1, so it gets my vote.
I hadn’t ever seen the second video before. It’s good. But I like the first one better. It’s just more visually appealing. And yeah, it also hits the nostalgia button, as I recall seeing it on MTV back in the 90’s.
1st video—> Dancing Brick Girl Animation!
One of the 5 best songs of the 1990’s. The black & white video is killer. When the song first came out I thought it was a new David Bowie song. Whateverthehell - a great blog spotlight.
The first, simply because I think that the second is poorly executed. I like both concepts. It is a great song. Unfortunately, I think that his work since has veered too far towards dance/funk for my liking.
Your lead in made me want to like the second, black and white artsy vid better. However, when it was done. I found it to be lacking. Although it started with so much potential. Second video lost me when I saw Collins laugh after throwing up the guitar. I thought first was too cutesy, however, showed some duality with a nice darkside. Maybe that was the point of the cutesy. My vote is with number 1.
I used to rock this song so hard. So hard.
that’s how you rock everything, Andrew!