Synopsis
Golden Earring members arrive at a house in a battered car and help a young woman escape while her father sleeps. After stealing another vehicle and robbing a car dealer, the group takes her on a nighttime drive through a stylized, seemingly 1950s world of diners and drive-in theaters. The carefree mood turns increasingly ominous as a film catches fire, guns are loaded, and the travelers are stopped at a police barricade. A child watches as the journey ends in sudden violence.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video was made in 1984 for the song from Golden Earring's album N.E.W.S.
- The title appears in several forms, including "Clear Night, Moonlight" and "Clear Nite, Moonlight." The latter spelling is used in some official and archival video listings.
- The video was included in MTV programming in the United States in May 1984, where it appeared in light rotation.
- Its visual world deliberately evokes 1950s crime movies, with a stolen convertible, a diner, a drive-in theater, and a police ambush.
- The license plate at the beginning reads "So Little Time." That detail foreshadows the fatal ending rather than functioning as random background decoration.
- The song was issued as a single in the Netherlands in April 1984, backed with "Fist in Glove."
- A longer version of the video, listed at approximately 4 minutes and 39 seconds, was later included on Golden Earring's 50 Years Anniversary Album DVD.
- The video belongs to the period when Golden Earring moved away from simple performance clips and toward short, cinematic stories designed for the emerging MTV audience.