Synopsis

Beck moves through New York City dressed as an urban cowboy, carrying a boombox as he passes Wall Street, traffic, waterfront streets, an aircraft carrier, and an amusement park. The video repeatedly freezes him in carefully composed tableaus before pushing in for closer looks. Its playful city odyssey gradually takes on a more watchful tone as hidden observers are revealed to have been tracking him. The imagery blends street photography, deadpan humor, and cinematic homage, particularly to Midnight Cowboy and Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed on location in New York City rather than being built around a conventional studio performance. Beck's cowboy styling and portable stereo give the clip a deliberate Midnight Cowboy flavor.
• The freeze-frame sections and sudden zooms toward apparently incidental characters are central to the video's visual design. The closing reveal reframes the earlier street scenes as part of a larger surveillance gag.
• Visual artist Ash Beck created the large Beck images displayed on billboards around Wall Street.
• The video's editing received major recognition at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, where it won Best Editing in a Video and Best Male Video.
• The clip was included in The Work of Director Mark Romanek, part of Palm Pictures' Directors Label series. That release placed it alongside Romanek's videos for artists including Nine Inch Nails, Fiona Apple, Madonna, and Johnny Cash.
• Critical discussion of the video has emphasized its debt to cinema and photography. One analysis connects it specifically to the final scene of The 400 Blows, while other commentary highlights its visual relationship with Midnight Cowboy.