This Land is Mine

January 24, 2019 3:08 PM

The powerful video for Gary Clark Jr's latest single "This Land" is directed by Savanah Leaf.

"This Land" is described by Dan Soloman in Texas Monthly as "a defiant, statement piece anthem" about racism in America. Like the Woodie Guthrie classic it references, "This Land" claims America for all its people; but it acknowledges the pain and anger caused by the dissonance between American ideals and reality.

Clark talks about the inspiration for the song in this Rolling Stone interview.

Leaf, a former Olympic volleyball player, has previously directed a short film adaptation of Tiana Clark's poem "The Ayes Have It."

posted by the primroses were over (8 comments total)

yup. best record of the year so far
posted by philip-random at 4:22 PM on January 24, 2019

liked the video pretty good. This song is a fucking beast. I love music that blends different genres and music histories to great affect, ESPECIALLY when it's not just a sample-fest. This is the kind of song that creates a setting you could set epic plays in.
posted by es_de_bah at 6:35 PM on January 24, 2019

I already knew Gary Clark, Jr. was going to be the future of blues music, but this looks like it could be his big crossover into the mainstream. His vocal cadence on some parts of this song reminds me of Childish Gambino's on "This Is America."
posted by wabbittwax at 7:21 PM on January 24, 2019

"His vocal cadence on some parts of this song reminds me of Childish Gambino's on "This Is America."

I was thinking about This is America before I even opened the video.

Cynical me was thinking about Gary Clark's other videos where he is awash in gyrating hot babes in swanky condos overlooking L.A. He is a truly a great talent, but I have a weary suspicion he is simply being "Kate Winslet the Nun in a Holocaust Movie". His producers would want that.

[more annoying cynicism redacted]
posted by Xoebe at 4:58 PM on January 25, 2019

What is it that the kids find in the dirt under the confederate flags? It looks like a black arrowhead, but that doesn't seem to make much sense.
posted by Paul Slade at 11:55 AM on February 4, 2019

Yeah, pretty sure the objects they find in the dirt under the Confederate flags are arrowheads. I took that as an acknowledgment of another aspect of American society/history's racism.
posted by the primroses were over at 4:28 AM on February 5, 2019

I never thought to look at the arrowheads from that point of view. Thanks.
posted by Paul Slade at 1:37 PM on February 5, 2019

Yeah, the kid finds a Native American arrowhead while the lyrics being sung are referencing a white man telling a black man to "go back where you come from". Which is... ironic, to put it mildly.
posted by Roommate at 2:10 PM on February 5, 2019