Synopsis
The video presents the song as a series of unsettling one-act plays performed by schoolchildren. A boy returns to school with bright white hair after a car accident, a girl hides birthmarks beneath a cape while classmates mock her, and another boy is embarrassed by his family's intense church rituals. The Crash Test Dummies perform beside the stage as the children's stories unfold, creating a deliberately formal, theatrical contrast between the band's restrained delivery and the characters' painful experiences.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video premiered in October 1993, around the release of the band's album "God Shuffled His Feet."
- The children's performances give the lyrics a literal stage-play treatment rather than presenting the stories as conventional narrative scenes.
- The three central children were identified in the production as "Whitey," "Blotchy," and the "Reluctant Boy." The second story also features the taunting "Bratty Kids," dressed with deerstalker hats and magnifying glasses.
- The video's unusual school-production concept was later parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic in the video for "Headline News."
- The video received a 1994 Juno Award nomination for Video of the Year.
- An installment of "Pop-Up Video" noted that Brad Roberts chose to hum the refrain because it sounded more resigned than a sung chorus. The video reinforces that feeling by pairing the wordless refrain with the children's silent discomfort and awkward stage business.