Video analysis - The Coral, Dreaming of you

Music video Narrative Analysis

The coral – Dreaming Of You

IWhat's up with my heart when it skips a beat (skips a beat)
Can't feel no pavement right under my feet (under my feet)

Up in my lonely room 
When I'm dreaming of you 
Oh what can I do (wah oooo)
I still need you, but
I don't want you now

When I'm down and my hands are tied (hands are tied)
I cannot reach a pen for me to draw the line (draw the line)
From this pain I just can't disguise (can't disguise)
Its gonna hurt but I'll have to say goodbye (say goodbye)

Up in my lonely room 
When I'm dreaming of you
Oh what can I do (wah oooo)
I still need you, but
I dont want you now

Oh yeah 

Ohhh Ohhhhh

Up in my lonely room 
When I'm dreaming of you
Oh what can I do (wah oooo)
I still need you, but
I dont want you now

Analysis

The video for the song is essentially a performance video, but is shot in such away that the full band are never in the same shot together and in between each band member playing there is a hint of randomness or madness that is placed in there to give the audience a clue to what the band are like and the way they make and present there music.

I believe that the video has nothing to do with the lyrics or story of the song, which is not surprising knowing what the band was like. The song is essentially a love song, referencing to someone who either the singer or a person in general has lost at some point and they want him or her back. But the video doesn’t show this in anyway. The video is starts off set in a small corridor with the walls covered in random posters, during this scene we are introduced to the band and also a hint at the randomness of the band, shown through a bear and an American soldier dancing in the corridor. In this scene there is also what seems to be a subliminal message telling the audience to “Buy The Album”, which possibly could be making fun out of a political problem in the advertising world.

As I mentioned previously the lyrics of the song basically flow through telling what could have been a love story about some one who has lost someone, with the chorus being “Up in my lonely room when I'm dreaming of you oh what can I do I still need you but I don't want you now”. I believe that the story could be about the lead singer and songwriter of the band as when the chorus is sang, which it is three times, the camera cuts to a medium shot of the singer singing the chorus, without any of the other band members.

The next main scene of the video is the band members riding bikes down common English housing estates, which is shot on a purposely bad green screen, which could have been done just to further express the bands randomness and also the speed of the song, because the members are riding at an unnatural speed.  The lyrics of the song have nothing to do with this though, which maybe is because they didn’t want to create a cheesy love song so comedy was added to make what could be taken as serious lyrics and turn them in to a bit of a joke.