Savage (video album)
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Savage (1987) is the title of a video album, featuring songs by the popular group Eurythmics (from their 1987 music album of the same name) and directed by Sophie Muller. The individual videos largely (but not exclusively) focus upon Annie Lennox interpreting the madonna-whore paradigm in the form of a mousey housewife and a blonde vamp, and are steeped in metaphorical imagery and subtext. The dualism of her performance may have been the influence for later videos by Madonna, Mariah Carey, and Faith Hill. Lennox would go on to make another thematic video album for her 1992 solo album Diva, again directed by Muller.
The decision to create a video album to accompany the record was based upon the fact that the band did not want to embark on another full length tour that year (having completed the huge Revenge Tour a year earlier). Lennox admits to having vocal cord problems that prevent her from performing live often. Another factor influencing the project may have been the band Blondie (of whom Lennox was a huge fan), who made a similar video album for their 1979 LP Eat to the Beat, which also featured a combination of straight performance as well as more conceptual clips. Acclaimed director Sophie Muller was drafted in to pitch ideas to the pair and would subsequently direct all twelve clips on the Savage video album.
Many of the twelve videos on "Savage" are interlinked by a recurring theme, namely that of Lennox's portrayal of a prim, conservative housewife evolving through to an overtly sexual vamp. Dave Stewart's only prominent appearances on the video album are limited to three tracks (and some archive concert footage in a fourth) though these particular clips do not appear to be directly related to the recurring theme. The running order of the tracks on the video album made for a more cohesive concept piece than the seemingly haphazard running order of the songs on the album itself.
The following is a brief synopsis of each video:
- Beethoven (I Love to Listen to)
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- This is both the first song on the album and the video album. In it, Lennox begins by portraying a conservatively-dressed, middle-class housewife alone in her 1970s apartment. She is seen performing her "domestic role" by cleaning, cooking, and knitting. Also seen in the apartment are a little girl wearing heavy make-up, a blonde wig and a Shirley Temple-style dress, and a bald man - also wearing heavy make-up and a low-cut evening gown. Whilst the little girl proceeds to run riot and tear up the apartment that Lennox's prim housewife character has so diligently tried to keep in order, the bald man stands mysterious and statuesque in the background. Unable to cope with this turmoil in her neat, orderly little world, the housewife character finally breaks down and proceeds to undergo a transformation into an overtly sexual blonde vamp character. Now heavily made up in a low-cut gown, she effectively merges the three personas of the little girl (blonde, wild and attention-seeking), the man (uninhibited sexuality), and the housewife into one. Now free of the constraints of her housewife persona, she then proceeds to trash the apartment herself and sashays out onto the street outside, laughing maniacally. An interpretation of this video will suggest that the little girl and the bald man are not actually "characters" as such, but are in fact repressed elements of the housewife's (and perhaps even of Lennox's) psyche trying to come to the surface. Lennox's unhinged housewife character also shows strong similarities to Wendy Craig's character Ria in the classic 1970s BBC sitcom Butterflies, which may have been an influence. Another potential influence may have been the 1957 film The Three Faces of Eve, concerning a housewife with multiple personality disorder. Eurythmics' "Beethoven" video was ranked number 98 in a Rolling Stone Magazine chart of the Top 100 Videos of All Time, published in the mid-1990s.
- I Need A Man
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- A basic performance clip, Lennox (still in the blonde vamp persona) performs the song direct to the camera, by herself on a stage in an uninhibited, provocative (and even drunken) manner. After finishing the song, and still in character, she stumbles down a corridor and collapses in a hotel room.
- Heaven
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- Lennox's vamp character is featured in a variety of "celebrity" situations, including being driven in a convertible by Dave Stewart (visible in the rear-view mirror) through the streets of Los Angeles, and eating sushi and drinking cocktails in a hotel room.
- Shame
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- Both Stewart and Lennox sing to the camera in front of an animated background of ever-changing images, matching the lyrics they are singing. They both appear bare (from the shoulders up) with Stewart behind Lennox, appearing to physically support her.
- Wide-Eyed Girl
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- Lennox, in the guise of a young 1960s woman, meets a man, gets pregnant, marries him, has a baby girl, then evolves into a dowdier version of the blonde vamp character who fights with the now rebellious grown-up daughter when she catches her bringing her boyfriend up to her bedroom. The daughter leaves for Italy, finds a man, and moves out, leaving her mother by herself. The girl's father is not seen at all in the second time-frame, perhaps accounting for why the mother character is so disapproving of her daughter bringing boyfriends home with her.
- Do You Want To Break Up?
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- Another performance clip (albeit a heavily stylised one), with Lennox performing midway between the housewife character and the vamp character (conservatively dressed but with heavy make-up), singing on an Alps-based setting. The video suggests an Oktoberfest celebration as many dancers wear lederhosen and drink beer. The scenario is implied to be a bad dream that Lennox (as herself) is having, as we see her struggling in her sleep and later awakened, mesmerised by the experience.
- I've Got A Lover (Back In Japan)
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- A series of shots of Lennox relaxing in the back of a limousine and staring out of a building window are interspersed with some live concert shots (featuring both Lennox and Stewart). The various locations may signify the various male lovers she describes in the lyrics of the song.
- Put The Blame On Me
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- A very simple, minimal video, showing processed headshots of Lennox overlapped with a swirling, artsy purple background.
- Savage
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- This video shows simple, slow motion shots of Lennox posing for photographs whilst in her blonde vamp persona. The camera lingers on her in a slow and languid manner, much like the style of the song.
- You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart
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- Video clip for the final (and most successful) single release from the album "Savage" sees Lennox in all three different guises of housewife, vamp, and survivor. Locations include a desert and a supermarket. The clip ends with Lennox's guise of looking harsh, ragged and cold with heavyset darkened eyes whilst walking alone in a desert (the juxtaposition of the image of a 'hot' location), then later being transformed into a much softer, cleaner, and warmer looking Lennox, joyously embracing a man to the refrain of "hold me now". The man's face is never seen, a possible suggestion that Lennox did not want the viewer to speculate on her romantic life but did want to affirm her heterosexuality (though from what little we can see, the man does resemble her husband Uri Fruchtmann, whom she married that same year). An interesting subtext though is that after singing the line "love is a religious sign, I'm gonna leave this love behind", Lennox turns away from the camera and walks towards a bar that is prominently advertising "Live Girls/Striptease". Whether this was intended to be a strictly metaphorical image or Lennox deliberately teasing the audience with a more personal (albeit subtle) statement, has never been made clear.
- I Need You
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- This video features Lennox (as herself) with Stewart, who is playing acoustic guitar (the song's only accompaniment). As they perform, seated, we hear chatter in the background and the viewer sees images of people walking past the duo and not appearing to be paying much attention to them. As with the Shame video, there is an interesting visual dynamic that stands out in that Lennox is a woman with short hair and Stewart a man with long hair.
- Brand New Day
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- This is both the last song on the album and the video album. It features a clean, calm, beautifully lit Lennox (as herself) in an immaculately tailored white suit on a stage with several young schoolgirls in theatrical costume, who perform mime and dance to the song. Afterwards, Lennox and the girls take a curtain bow to a fake cheering audience.
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