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Alannah Myles - Black Velvet

Music Video
ArtistAlannah Myles
SongBlack Velvet
AlbumAlannah Myles
AlbumThe Very Best Of Alannah Myles
DirectorDoug Freel
GenreRock
IntroNo
OutroNo
Highest Charts Position1(Billboard Hot 100)
LabelAtlantic Records
Sound MixStereo
Technical Specificationscolour - format unknown

Wiki

Synopsis

Alannah Myles performs "Black Velvet" in a rugged rural setting, singing from the porch of a log cabin at her family's ranch in Buckhorn, Ontario. The intimate outdoor footage is intercut with energetic concert scenes showing Myles fronting her band before a live audience. The contrast between the weathered cabin, open countryside, and stage performance gives the video a rootsy, blues-rock atmosphere that matches the song's tribute to Elvis Presley and its evocation of Southern rock mythology.

Factoids & Trivia

  • Part of the video was filmed at Myles' family ranch in Buckhorn, Ontario, using the family's old square-cut log cabin as a key setting.
  • The concert footage was filmed in Kingston, Ontario, at the bar Stages.
  • Myles is shown singing on the cabin porch with guitarist Kurt Schefter, whose work also included the band Raving Mojos.
  • The song was inspired by songwriter Christopher Ward's experience traveling on a bus filled with Elvis Presley fans heading to Graceland for the tenth anniversary of Presley's death.
  • "Black Velvet" was Myles' breakthrough hit and became her only US number-one single. Its success helped establish the self-titled debut album internationally.
  • The video's blend of rural imagery and concert footage reflects the song's mixture of blues, rock, and country influences rather than presenting a conventional narrative.
  • Myles won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Black Velvet." The song also earned lasting radio exposure, later receiving an ASCAP Millionaire Award.

Lyrics

Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell.
Jimmy Rogers on the Victrola up high.
Mama's dancin' with a baby on her shoulder.
The sun is settin' like molasses in the sky.
The boy could sing, knew how to move, everything.
Always wanting more, he'd leave you longing for.

Black velvet and that little boy's smile.
Black velvet with that slow southern style.
A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees.
Black velvet if you please.

Up in Memphis the music's like a heatwave.
...
© Alannah Myles - Black Velvet. This is an excerpt, provided as citation under fair-use.
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