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Michael Penn - Try

Music Video
ArtistMichael Penn
SongTry
DirectorP. T. Anderson
IntroNo
OutroNo
Sound MixStereo
Technical Specificationscolour - format unknown

Wiki

Synopsis

Michael Penn walks briskly through a seemingly endless hallway, carrying his guitar and moving past a series of strange, theatrical vignettes. The corridor becomes a stage populated by musicians, dancers, roadies, and other fleeting figures, while Penn repeatedly disappears through doors and reappears in unexpected places. The video unfolds as one continuous journey, balancing deadpan humor, restless movement, and surreal backstage imagery as the song drives him steadily forward.

Factoids & Trivia

  • The video was filmed as one uninterrupted take, with the camera following Penn through a hallway reported to stretch roughly three-quarters of a mile through downtown Los Angeles.
  • The location was an old office or government-style building with a bureaucratic, Raymond Chandler-like atmosphere. Its extraordinary length provided the central concept for the video.
  • Penn and the filmmakers reportedly walked the hallway while listening to the song on a Walkman and realized that the track lasted about as long as the journey through the building.
  • The production was completed over a single weekend and required about 14 takes.
  • Much of the cast and crew came from the production of "Boogie Nights," which was in post-production at the time. Philip Seymour Hoffman appears as a roadie, while Thomas Jane and Melora Walters also make appearances.
  • Hoffman's wardrobe includes an "Angels Live in My Town" jacket, a reference to "Boogie Nights," as well as a "Planet of the Apes" T-shirt.
  • The hallway sequences include a dance marathon that recalls "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?", reinforcing the video's connection to 1970s cinema and pop culture.
  • The video was later included as an extra on the New Line Platinum DVD edition of "Boogie Nights."

Lyrics

I picked up that something of it
I could still try to make
Then watch me blink and overlook
What I undertake
'Til I don't try
I don't try
and I don't want to try to anymore

I would choose to accuse you
Strike the fire
Issue a decree
Ask you why
Watch you take the fifth as I
Give you the third degree
...
© Michael Penn - Try. This is an excerpt, provided as citation under fair-use.
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