"Try Walking in My Shoes..."
One of my favourite bands, finger eleven, covered Depeche Mode's Walking in My Shoes on their second album. I loved their version of the song, and began to have images in my head. I came up with twisted ideas for videos for some of the songs, including this one. So here it is, voila!
PREFACE: So it isn’t the guys’ song. Like Madonna was the first artist to do American Pie. Anyways this idea is inspired by One More Astronaut (song by the band I Mother Earth), Hamlet and oh, just my twisted thoughts. Hang on here we go.....
SETTING: A garden/forest like place...... Picture the Garden of Eden was some interesting and dark surprises which you’ll soon see.
THE BAND’S ATTIRE: Their usual black clothing, torn in places, stained and bloody in others - yet they seem oblivious to it.
VIDEO BEGINS
As the music begins to play, we see a car smashed into a tree, the front of it wrapped around the trunk..... at the first hard riff it explodes into fire and the camera pulls away to show a man, cuts on his face, clothes dirty and torn, slowly rising and stumbling to his feet...... As the camera zooms out more, and he stands, we see he is in some sort of garden or forest...... But not an ordinary one. The trees are half alive..... half of each tree has green leaves and healthy bark, the other half is barren, bark peeling....
We flash to Scott and the band, who are playing in a clearing in the garden..... around them the grass is green and the trees are healthy.... no one is around. “I would tell you of the things they put me through” he sings as we stay with the band.
“The pain I’ve been subjected to” takes us back to the guy who’s passing a snake coiled around a dead branch of a tree over his head. The guy looks very dazed and confused, as if he just flew over the rainbow a la Dorothy and landed in a munchkin land. “But the lord himself...blush” plays as the man sees a table. We zoom in on the table now, and we see a rabbit with bloodied fur (a life size one like the teletubbies) and a man in a torn hat sitting at the table, where insects crawl all over cookies and cakes, which are half eaten. At “But I think your pulse would start to rush” we see the man eating a cookie as bugs drop off it. Brief flash to the guy who’s gagging and rushing away.
At “Now I’m not looking for..... things I do” we are still with the man, who is wandering around, seeing insects swarming an animal that is very much alive, yet bleeding; think piranha like attacking, and a bed of flowers that are wilting before his eyes. He shakes his head as if to clear it, in disbelief. “But before we come....conclusion” shows the sky which is bright and sunny, yet a dark cloud is moving in towards the sun.
“Try walking in my shoes” is sung by Scott..... we start at his lips and zoom slowly out as he finishes the line so we can see the whole band. “You’ll stumble...... keep the same appointments I kept” plays as the band is shown playing and being their kick ass selves. “If you try walking in my shoes” brings the camera out further and we see that the huge clearing of green grass around the band is shrinking a bit, as the grass dies and turns brown. Also there are two people watching them play, who appear like zombies from our angle
“Try walking in my shoes” - Brings us back to the guy, who’s taken off his shoes and is walking barefoot.
“Morality would frown upon, indecency look down upon.....made of me” Has our lost traveller passing two people who you’d take for Adam and Eve: Eve has long long hair covering her breasts, and their genitals are covered by leaves, only half the leaves covering them are brittle and dried, while the other half are green and healthy. They each bite into a peach as the “scapegoat” part is said. They walk past the man and head off towards a sunny part..... the rest of the world they’re in right now has grown dark and overcast. “But I tell you now my judge and jurors” plays as the man follows them into the sun.... and as “my case is easy to see” we zoom out and see the band in this sunny spot, surrounded by people who are zombies, the rabbit and man from the feast, and all of them staring at the poor lost guy.
“I’m not looking for a clearer conscience” plays as two zombies grab the guy and pull him towards the front of the group, right before the band.
“peace of mind after what I’ve been through” mouths along the guy as we are watching his scared face.
“But before we talk of any repentence, try..... shoes” sings Scott and at the very instant the “you’ll stumble” part begins we flash to the sky and see lightning rip across the sky and the last bit of sun covered by clouds.
“Keep the same appointments I’ve kept” shows the animal that was being swarmd by insects falling down, half eaten to the bone.
“If you try walking in my shoes” shows the grass around the clearing decaying more, moving towards the band.
“Try walking in myyyyyyy....” shows the crowd scared, crowding around the band as they play. Lots of James and Rick here. The music continues to play as rain starts to pour down. We see a tree break and fall shortly before Scott begins singing again. At this point, water is pouring from his face a la Thief by OLP (Our Lady Peace).
We stay with Scott singing til the quiet part..... and then we zoom out to see the garden melting, the trees falling, flowers washing away.
“You’ll stumble in.... footsteps” shows the band. Rich banging the drums and water splashing everywhere. The crowd inching closer as the grass decays moving inward. The guy panicking.
“Keep the same... kept” shows a zombie person being swallowed into the earth as the grass beneath his feet decays and turns brown.
“If you try walking in my shoes” - more people disappear rapidly slipping into the ground. Close up shots only of screaming faces, including Adam and Eve.
And with the final “try walking in my shoes” we slowly pull out and see that the only ones left are the band and the guy - and the rain stops......
NOTE: The song to me anyways has always spoken of final judgement and always has been associated with the garden of Eden and man’s fall. So when I first thought of the video and what I’d see, the imagery came flooding. You may not like it, but I personally love this. It’;s very hard to convey on paper though.