Synopsis

The video places Joshua Kadison in a stark, sunlit desert, where he performs at a piano surrounded by open landscape. Intercut images show him driving an open-top car through the arid setting, while a romantic strand follows a couple on a beach. The contrasting images of travel, solitude, and intimacy complement the song's portrait of an unresolved relationship. Kadison appears less like a conventional pop performer than a solitary storyteller, with the outdoor piano serving as the video's central visual image.

Factoids & Trivia

• Although "Jessie" was released as a single in 1993, the music video is commonly cataloged as a 1994 production.

• VH-1 named Kadison its major video breakthrough artist of 1993 because of the "Jessie" clip. The video reportedly remained in the network's "What's New" rotation for 26 weeks, a record at the time that matched the run of k.d. lang's "Constant Craving" in 1992.

• The video's success helped support a song that developed gradually rather than exploding immediately. Contemporary trade coverage credited sustained VH-1 exposure, radio play, and television appearances with keeping the single visible for nearly a year.

• Video listings preserve both an "Original Videoclip" and a separate "UK Version," suggesting that more than one edit circulated internationally.

• The song was sometimes rumored to have been inspired by Sarah Jessica Parker. Parker later rejected that story, and Kadison described the song more generally as being about the lasting emotional pull of a former love.