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Zebra - Tell Me What You Want

Music Video | 1983
ArtistZebra
SongTell Me What You Want
DirectorJuliano Waldman
IntroNo
OutroNo
Sound MixStereo
Technical Specificationscolour - format unknown
Release date

Wiki

Synopsis

Randy Jackson approaches a mannequin seated beneath a stark lamp as Zebra's performance unfolds around him. The video shifts between band footage and a surreal series of images involving a woman in a tiger-print bodysuit, a red door, smoke, and other unsettling props. Rather than presenting a conventional storyline, it creates a fever-dream atmosphere that matches the song's urgent hard-rock delivery. Jackson receives most of the visual focus, while the band appears in brief performance passages.

Factoids & Trivia

  • The video was released in 1983 to promote Zebra's self-titled debut album on Atlantic Records.
  • "Tell Me What You Want" was written by vocalist and guitarist Randy Jackson. The recording was produced by Jack Douglas, whose credits also included major hard-rock and classic-rock acts.
  • The song was one of Zebra's best-known early singles. It reached No. 29 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and No. 107 on the Billboard Hot 100.
  • The clip received exposure on MTV during the band's initial breakthrough period, helping introduce Zebra beyond its established Long Island following.
  • The video's deliberately strange imagery includes a mannequin, a tiger-themed female figure, a plastic spider, a double-neck guitar, and a figure appearing wrapped in plastic. Its disconnected, low-budget surrealism has since become part of the clip's cult appeal.
  • Zebra's lineup in the video is Randy Jackson, Felix Hanemann, and Guy Gelso, the trio that recorded the band's debut album.

Lyrics

"TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT

I've been wasting my time
I am losing my mind
My head's on the floor
For evermore
I have given you all
All that I had
But with a slam of the door
You've driven me mad
Now I'm sad
Tell me what you want

You have taken it all
...
© Zebra - Tell Me What You Want. This is an excerpt, provided as citation under fair-use.
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