Research

Our group has been given a segment (0:00-1:16) of Tom Jones and The Cardigans' 1999 cover of 'Burning Down the House', originally released by Talking Heads in 1983 on their fifth studio album Speaking in Tongues. [1]

 

After listening to the track I decided to do so again but with the lyrics in front of me in order the gain a better understanding of the song. I specifically seeked the Tom Jones and The Cradigan's cover of the song as the track has been popular with many cover artists. Here is the lyrics to the segment our group need to re-imagine and re-create [2]:

 

Fightin' fire with fire

Watch out
You might get what you're after
Cool babies
Strange but not a stranger
I'm an ordinary guy
Burning down the house

Hold tight
Wait till the party's over
Hold tight
We're in for nasty weather
There has got to be a way
Burning down the house

Here's your ticket
Pack your bags
Time for jumpin' overboard
The transportation is here
Close enough but not too far
Maybe you know where you are
Fightin' fire with fire

All wet
Hey you might need a raincoat
Shakedown
Dreams walking in broad daylight
Three hundred six-ty five degrees
Burning down the house

 

I then listening again, this time picking out the male and female parts in the song. This gave me an idea of how many lines each member of the group had and was a starting point for different types of shots. For example, if a line belongs to only one singer, this could be an opportunity for a close up shot.

•  O  Male (Lead)
•  O  Female (Backing)
•  O  Both

 

Now I went to see the already existing music videos for inspiration and to put the lyrics into context. First the Tom Jones and The Cardigans' cover from 1999 (0:00-1:17), although the video itself is reversed [3]:

 

 

Followed by the original by Talking Heads from 1983 [4]:

 

 

From my own knowledge I am aware that music videos sometimes have a narrative or instead use concepts. So far the track that we had been given seemed to have no narrative, or much meaning. To double check this I searched for the song's meaning:

 

"To form the lyrics, they picked words that fit the rhythms, which is why the words don't make a lot of sense. This is common practice in the world of Funk..." [5]

 

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Down_the_House
2. http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/cardigans/burningdownthehouse.html
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBjuoMy9FUU
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNnAvTTaJjM
5. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=13385