Synopsis

A lone ascetic spends his days perched atop a tall pillar in the desert, isolated from the world and devoted to spiritual discipline. His severe routine is disrupted when a glamorous woman appears and tempts him away from his elevated refuge. Following her into a brightly lit 1960s nightclub, he finds himself surrounded by go-go dancers, pop performers, and the seductive energy of modern entertainment. The abrupt shift from biblical solitude to dance-floor spectacle gives the video its surreal, mischievous punch.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video closely recreates the ending of Luis Bunuel's 1965 surrealist film "Simon of the Desert." In the film, the devil lures the ascetic Simon from his pillar to a 1960s nightclub; the New Pornographers video uses the same basic joke and transition.

• A.C. Newman later described the clip as being lifted wholesale from "Simon of the Desert." The film reference is so direct that the video functions almost like a compressed, pop-music remake of Bunuel's finale.

• Nicki Clyne, later known for "Battlestar Galactica," plays the woman who serves as the video's tempter and lip-syncs Neko Case's vocal part. Clyne has said she was initially approached as a dancer but asked to play the lead instead.

• The song appears on "Electric Version," the New Pornographers' second album, released in 2003. Carl Newman wrote the song, while Neko Case provides the prominent lead vocal that the video visually assigns to Clyne.

• The clip's comic contrast between religious austerity and nightclub pop mirrors the song's interest in old rules giving way to new forms of behavior and entertainment.