Here’s the first music video from the band Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling, inspired by Patrick McGoohan’s ground-breaking program The Prisoner (more info here). Filmed throughout Massachusetts , the video is an astounding achievement. Painstakingly accurate to the source material, the video isn’t just a shot-for-shot homage to the classic ITV program, but the song itself is really great.
Featuring a replica of the signature Lotus 7, every camera angle is replicated along with McGoohan’s unique facial expressions (performed by lead singer Sophia Cacciola). As a fan of the original Prisoner I was very impressed by the attention to detail, then taken in by the song as well.
The video recently premiered at the annual Prisoner convention in Portmeirion, Wales (Portmeiricon –http://www.sixofone.co.uk/), where The Prisoner was originally shot and it played at the Boston Underground Film Festival. The online premiere was on Magnet on 6/9/11.
Spread the word, tell your friends and watch.
A still tongue may make a happy life, but silence is far from from a burden in this case.
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling is a female-fronted duo of drums/vocals and bass. The band name and songs are all inspired by the ’60s cult spy-fi TV show The Prisoner. We’re loud, arty, minimalist rock working in the realm of proto-punk/new wave/no wave bands and dark songwriters like Joy Division, Einsturzende Neubauten, The Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Diamanda Galás, Nina Hagen, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, and Leonard Cohen.
The band name Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling is also taken from the title of an episode of The Prisoner – which in turn was taken from the refrain of the theme song to the movie High Noon. The song and film are about honor, moral obligation, fear, and death. The Prisoner is an allegorical science fiction show about breaking free from societal norms and maintaining individuality under the thumb of faceless hierarchy and big-brother style totalitarianism. We thought these were interesting and always-relevant themes to work with, and of course, particularly compelling in the modern political climate.
The band is currently two EPs (April 2010’s The New Number 2 and June 2011’s Questions Are a Burden to Others) into a project to write and record 17 songs, each one based on/inspired by an episode of the ’60s cult spy-fi TV series The Prisoner.
For more info, visit the official website and listen to some songs.
Special thanks to Johnny Caples for sending me this.
Below is a flyer prepared by the band that showcases the original opening and the video. Sterling work!
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