Recommendation: Castle On The Hill (music video)

So a while ago, Sam Taplin (of ‘Sam Taplin’ fame) sent me an email with a link to the latest Ed Sheeran song, which (at that time) was called ‘Castle On The Hill’. I thought this might the kind of song you’d like, he said.Knowing that my motto is “No song too obscure, no song too ubiquitous” (or… it is for this blog post at least), this was a fair assumption.

I thought it was okay. Obvious Mumford influence, with a bit of U2 thrown in. Nice sentiment, but… did I really believe the song? I wasn’t sure.

I have since emailed him back at monthly intervals to express, in ever stronger terms, how absolutely right he was. The more I listened to it, the more I believed that Mr Sheeran was not only being completely genuine but was saying something important in kind of a subtle way. I think it’s great songwriting.

Although… it’s not specifically the song I’m recommending here. It’s the music video. In this month’s Eulogize This my bit on Oasis references Noel Gallagher on how he feels music videos are basically bollocks. I think they often are. But when they get it right, I think they can make the world that the song occupies even bigger.

I cannot tell you how much I love this music video.

Which is a shame, as… that’s sort of the point of this blog post, so I’ll have to do my best (without going on too long about it).

Basically, it literally represents the story in the song, but in doing so it dodges every single dumb cliché that would have just made it stupid. I love the fact that the song just reeks of summer nostalgia, but the video is set in winter. I love the part over the lyric “Had my first kiss on a Friday night – I don’t reckon that I did it right…” where the young Sheeran look-alike is seem emerging with a sort of triumphant look on his face, but instinctively his hand his starting to cover his face as if he’s saying to himself “Oh lordy I cocked that up, didn’t I…” And I love how much of… nothing in particular happens. But you just believe the relationships you see in front of you. Or I do, at least.

Current Favourite Part:
Everything from the line “One friend left to sell clothes” to the end.

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