Same place, different songs, half a century apart
August 20, 2023 2:31 PM Subscribe
Asking for Love was a music video made by Egill Eðvarðsson in 1973 for a song by Jóhann G. Jóhannsson, who was filmed walking backwards around downtown Reykjavík, and then reversed to make it seem everyone else’s walking backwards. Now, fifty years later, Guðmundur Kristinn Jónsson and Ívar Kristján Ívarsson have recreated the video with singer-songwriter Árný Margrét, walking the same route backwards, for her song Waiting.
Note: Jóhann G. Jóhannsson is not the composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who would’ve been four years old in 1973.
And yet, they are so likely related Vegas won't even lay odds on it.
posted by hippybear at 2:34 PM on August 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
And yet, they are so likely related Vegas won't even lay odds on it.
posted by hippybear at 2:34 PM on August 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
hippybear: And yet, they are so likely related Vegas won't even lay odds on it.
They’re not, but funnily enough the composer’s middle name also begins with G, and he went by Jóhann G. Jóhannsson when he started out, until the older musician asked him to leave out the middle initial from his name. The composer once said in an interview that many fewer women would talk to him at parties when they didn’t think he was the much better known, at the time, musician.
posted by Kattullus at 2:43 PM on August 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
They’re not, but funnily enough the composer’s middle name also begins with G, and he went by Jóhann G. Jóhannsson when he started out, until the older musician asked him to leave out the middle initial from his name. The composer once said in an interview that many fewer women would talk to him at parties when they didn’t think he was the much better known, at the time, musician.
posted by Kattullus at 2:43 PM on August 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
I’m assuming this was a huge influence on The Pharcyde’s Drop. Right? Right???
posted by svenni at 2:47 PM on August 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by svenni at 2:47 PM on August 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
svenni: I’m assuming this was a huge influence on The Pharcyde’s Drop . Right? Right???
J Dilla, a major connoisseur of Nordic folk rock, sampled those two bass notes at 0:14 for the song, and though they kinda get lost in the mix, it inspired Spike Jonze to make a similar video.
posted by Kattullus at 2:53 PM on August 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
J Dilla, a major connoisseur of Nordic folk rock, sampled those two bass notes at 0:14 for the song, and though they kinda get lost in the mix, it inspired Spike Jonze to make a similar video.
posted by Kattullus at 2:53 PM on August 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
Neat idea. Wish there were only people. The cars and bikes ruin the illusion.
posted by dobbs at 3:02 PM on August 20, 2023
posted by dobbs at 3:02 PM on August 20, 2023
similar yet different, time expansion vs time reversal, the classic Orbital video for The Box starring the universe's favorite alien, Tilda Swinton
posted by glonous keming at 6:09 PM on August 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by glonous keming at 6:09 PM on August 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
very nice. Margrét does a wonderful job, it is visually compelling. So I listened and love this song by Margrét, now, well I just listened to 'Serpents' in a re-re watch of TWD: The Sun as forehadowing then listened to Emily Barker. the instrumentation, the vocals,, and lyrics are different between the three songs so I guess the lesson is not to compare but listen... Tmbre is there the progression, strings and voce, it effects the affact and I love that.
I know I listen too long
but one thing leads to another
ya-ya
posted by clavdivs at 7:12 PM on August 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
I know I listen too long
but one thing leads to another
ya-ya
posted by clavdivs at 7:12 PM on August 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Wish there were only people. The cars and bikes ruin the illusion.
Not for me, I think having everything else go backwards is part of the appeal. However the "illusion breaker" for me is in the modern video, her hair is long, so when she swivels her head around, the hair starts moving before her head. It makes it obvious she is not actually walking forward.
posted by Metro Gnome at 12:56 PM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Not for me, I think having everything else go backwards is part of the appeal. However the "illusion breaker" for me is in the modern video, her hair is long, so when she swivels her head around, the hair starts moving before her head. It makes it obvious she is not actually walking forward.
posted by Metro Gnome at 12:56 PM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
I thought everyone in Iceland is related to each other to an extent that singles have an app that lets them know how closely related they are to a random potential hookup.
As for the videos, rainy down-at-the-heels 1970s Iceland looks so much more interesting than its sunnier recent variant.
posted by morspin at 2:05 PM on August 21, 2023
As for the videos, rainy down-at-the-heels 1970s Iceland looks so much more interesting than its sunnier recent variant.
posted by morspin at 2:05 PM on August 21, 2023
morspin: I thought everyone in Iceland is related to each other to an extent that singles have an app that lets them know how closely related they are to a random potential hookup.
No, this was a joke in a press-release for a genealogy app, which was picked up by foreign press as a serious thing.
posted by Kattullus at 2:11 PM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
No, this was a joke in a press-release for a genealogy app, which was picked up by foreign press as a serious thing.
posted by Kattullus at 2:11 PM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]
Given Nordic heritable surname conventions, I'm guessing that there is no undersupply of quite unrelated Jóhannssons in Iceland. Man, but how did they manage phonebooks back in dead tree days?
posted by y2karl at 7:59 PM on August 21, 2023
posted by y2karl at 7:59 PM on August 21, 2023
Yes, Jóhann is a fairly common name, so there are also a lot of Jóhannssons and Jóhannsdóttirs out there.
Also, I have to correct my earlier story about the composer being asked by the older musician to stop going by Jóhann G. Turns out there was yet another musician, who had the same middle name as the composer, Gunnar, who was asked to stop.
posted by Kattullus at 4:53 AM on August 22, 2023
Also, I have to correct my earlier story about the composer being asked by the older musician to stop going by Jóhann G. Turns out there was yet another musician, who had the same middle name as the composer, Gunnar, who was asked to stop.
posted by Kattullus at 4:53 AM on August 22, 2023
One of many reasons why I love metafilter. Never would have seen either of these videos (or known of these artists) without this post and loved them both - especially as a pair.
posted by nkknkk at 5:54 AM on August 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by nkknkk at 5:54 AM on August 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
It can be difficult to track down Jóhann G. Jóhannsson’s music online, though it’s worth exploring, partly because a lot of it seems to have been removed, and partly because a lot of streaming services confuse him with yet another Jóhann G. Jóhannsson (number four, if you’re keeping count) who wrote a popular children’s album which drowns out “our” Jóhann G. online. Also, some of his odder, more experimental releases just never seem to have been digitized, as is often the case with older Icelandic music.
posted by Kattullus at 8:20 AM on August 22, 2023
posted by Kattullus at 8:20 AM on August 22, 2023
Thank you for sharing this, @Kattullus. The original video and the music evoked a lot of feeling for me. I can see why it was worthy of an homage.
I saw someone completely normal, even forgettable, doing nothing in particular while walking non-descript streets. He was alone, but it wasn't because nobody was there; it was because he moved in an entirely different realm, an entirely different physics, so that no-one could choose to be with him, nor could he choose to be with them. He can walk the same streets, he can see others and be seen by them, but he is forever separated into a different plane of existence. One that makes him peculiar and bizarre to everyone else. If you've ever felt alone in a big crowd or a big city, you'll have a sense of what this evoked for me.
Perhaps at the time the gimmick was more striking than it seems today, where even the most casual of TikTok videos can contain all kinds of technical trickery. To my eyes, it was humble and moving and bittersweet.
posted by Probabilitics at 8:54 AM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
I saw someone completely normal, even forgettable, doing nothing in particular while walking non-descript streets. He was alone, but it wasn't because nobody was there; it was because he moved in an entirely different realm, an entirely different physics, so that no-one could choose to be with him, nor could he choose to be with them. He can walk the same streets, he can see others and be seen by them, but he is forever separated into a different plane of existence. One that makes him peculiar and bizarre to everyone else. If you've ever felt alone in a big crowd or a big city, you'll have a sense of what this evoked for me.
Perhaps at the time the gimmick was more striking than it seems today, where even the most casual of TikTok videos can contain all kinds of technical trickery. To my eyes, it was humble and moving and bittersweet.
posted by Probabilitics at 8:54 AM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
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posted by Kattullus at 2:32 PM on August 20, 2023 [6 favorites]