Fun and Serious

The following two videos were posted on Andrew Sullivan's blog from a website listing the 101 best music videos of the past decade. After viewing some of the videos on the website, I think Sullivan picked the best two. The two songs also happen to be on two of my favorite albums of the noughties (available on vinyl of course). There's also rightness in choosing videos that balance fun and seriousness. One without the other is just tiresome.

The Cash video is his cover of the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt" from his album American IV: When the Man Comes Around, which is one of the finest song collections about mortality, ever. The video keeps to that spirit, mixing in past footage of Cash and the tableaux of the elder Cash at a table of earthly delights, an image that goes back to early Christian art to remind us of the vanity of life.

The Feist video is all fun and joyousness, although the lyrics have a rueful edge to it about lost youth, although from a entirely different perspective from Cash's. Check out the incredible camera work and Feist's shiny outfit!