Stereogum Home
May 22, 2007

Video Hangover: Al Jarreau - "Mornin'"

Every week, we dig in the archives for videos that we find noteworthy, memorable, or just unbelievably stupid. And then, we break 'em down for you. Why Video Hangover? Because when you watch as many videos as we do, you're going to feel it afterwards.

"Mornin'"
Al Jarreau, 1983

Al Jarreau gets so high he thinks he's Peabo Bryson.

Mornin' Mr. Ad Sales Man
We have no idea whether this was an officially sanctioned General Mills joint, but mentioning the Cheerios by name was a brilliant play for marketing dollars. Jarreau was clearly a man ahead of his time when it came to product placement. Check out the plug for the San Francisco chamber of commerce, the Levitra-ready plant-stiffening scene, and the vaguely racist shoeshine boy, who is buffing a bionic prosthesis that will not even be invented until the year 2133.

For the record, we do not endorse trying this at home -- or anywhere else
An Al Jarreau sweater happens when you relax your eyes and stare at a Cosby Sweater until the sailboat appears.

Also, stop talking to your breakfast cereal
"Higher" means "happier," not "messed up on cough syrup." Right, we get it. But here's a quick word of advice: If you don't want people making jokes about you taking drugs, don't make a video in which you 1) prance around a pastel, animated town, 2) run up the Golden Gate Bridge, and 3) take a hydraulic lift to a balloon ride to a cloud. People might get the wrong idea.


Got a candidate for Video Hangover? Email tips at stereogum dot com.

Posted at 12:34 PM in ,
Tags:




4 Comments

It's a shame how a great song was massacred by that 'sunny' video.

Posted by: dudeasincool at 05/22/07 1:22 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

song of the south + vice city = mornin'

Posted by: jim at 05/22/07 2:07 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

If it ain't saying "coked up", it certainly is inferring "queer nation".

DwD

Posted by: Dw Dunphy at 05/23/07 10:31 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

The author of this review must have really taken his hate pill to find so much wrong with the Mornin' video. I suggest lightening up a little. If Jarreau had pastel-coloured hair, was bling-laden, and rapped out epithets about cops and bitches, the review might have had been milder. Remember, this was 1983. Most serious songwriters and musicians recognize that "Cherios" might have fit perfectly in the emotion intended. Childlike though it may be, the musician roster included some of the industry's greatest: David Foster, Michael O'Martian, Jay Graydon. Only an ill-informed, maybe even envious, critic could miss the beauty in this unusual production.

Posted by: Joel at 11/16/07 1:11 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Leave a comment


 

The 'Gum Drop

Get our newsletter. MP3s and giveaways weekly.

Search




Sort by:date relevance

Information

  • Contact:
  • About
  • Press
  • Advertising
  • Stereogum RSS Stereogum RSS XML Icon
  • MP3-Only RSS Stereogum RSS XML Icon

Staff

Founder/Editor-In-Chief
Scott Lapatine
Executive Editor
Amrit Singh
Senior Writer
Brandon Stosuy
Columnist
Jon McMillan
Technology & Operations
Jim Jazwiecki
Angela Williams

The Cool Kids

All Stereogum Posts

Get Flash to see our mp3 player. Here are our mp3s: Phosphorescent - Reasons To Quit (»)
Little Joy - No One's Better Sake (»)
Blitzen Trapper - Furr (»)
Peter Bjorn And John - Nothing To Worry About (»)
Bodies Of Water - Under The Pines (»)
Torche - Healer (»)
The Apples In Stereo - Energy (»)
My Morning Jacket - Celebration (Live) (»)
My Morning Jacket - Get Down On It (Live) (»)
Gang Gang Dance - House Jam (»)
Black Lips - Starting Over (»)
Malajube - Ursuline (»)
Department Of Eagles - No One Does It Like You (Album Version) (»)
Au - I'll Be Home For Christmas (»)
Sufjan Stevens - Good King Wenceslas (»)
Bon Iver - Your Love (Live) (»)
Brendan Canning - Hit The Wall (»)
Franz Ferdinand - What She Came For (Live) (»)

Progress Report logo

Progress Report: Phoenix

NAME: Phoenix PROGRESS REPORT: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, out in Spring 2009. Recorded at Philippe Zdar's studio in Montmartre, Paris. "Fast and intense" is how Phoenix's lead singer Thomas Mars describes the band's next record. The Paris-based foursome are men of...

MORE »

Commercial Appeal logo

Apples In Stereo Energize Pepsi Rebranding

As we've mentioned in the past (2007), Robert Schneider's not afraid of the graceful sellout. So, no, we're not surprised that he and his E6 cohorts just scored a Pepsi commercial. (Heck, we already knew how much E6-related bands loved...

MORE »

Premature Evaluation logo

Premature Evaluation: Morrissey - Years Of Refusal

Morrissey's ninth solo album is one of those collections that leaked in fits and starts via live performances and singles and the like that by the time we took it in from "Something Is Squeezing My Skull" through "I'm OK...

MORE »

Band to Watch logo

Band To Watch: Cold Cave

Cold Cave is the brainchild of Philadelphia's Wesley Eisold, ex-Some Girls, Give Up The Ghost, XO Skeletons, and currently Ye Olde Maids, etc. We're calling his newest project a Band To Watch, but Eisold received some high-profile press when Fall...

MORE »

Quit Your Day Job logo

Quit Your Day Job: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

In February, New York BTW the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are releasing their self-titled full-length collection of jangly, noisy indie pop on the most fitting of labels, Slumberland. We recently posted the video for album track "Everything For...

MORE »

The 'Gum Drop logo

The New Year - "MMV"

We thought it would be wise (and witty) to start the New Year with the New Year, so this week's Drop finds the post-Bedhead Kadane brothers-fronted Touch & Go quintet offering up "MMV," a suitably thematic track from their excellent...

MORE »