Gotye - Seven Hours With A Backseat Driver (Official Music Video) 

This dude is incredibly talented. Both Gotye and the animators

(Oh man this is long I didn't mean for this to be so long sorry) My interpretation is that it's about a young person realising what the world is really like; first, everything is working in a perfect routine like clockwork. The bird is like a parent, pulling on the reins and keeping the elephant on track. The elephant is happy and she sees the world around her in a pretty innocent light; the other animals are going about their own business together, and the giraffe gives her a polite nod as she goes past. The bird ('parent') is like a backseat driver in that it is guiding the elephant and steering her, showing her where to go. But as soon as the parent leaves for a short time, the elephant gets uneasy. At 1:36 she hears something (probably something obscene) and turns to see what it is, and her expression is clearly a 'wtf was that' look. Down in a dark, out of the way part of the town, she sees lots of inappropriate things going on and is clearly alarmed, especially after the leopard winks at her. The parent returns and tries to tug her away from those things, and pull her attention away from them as well, but she keeps turning to look back at it, seeming fascinated but disturbed. At 2:13 the bird sees other birds - other parents - flying freely together, and narrows its eyes disapprovingly at them. I think this is because the bird is determined to guide the elephant in the right direction, and sees the others as slack parents who gave up trying with their children because they just wanted their own freedom. The bird tugs harder and harder on the elephant's hair, but rather than being put back on track the elephant starts crying because the bird is being too harsh. The elephant seems sulky and resentful of the bird after this. Then she begins noticing that something is off about all the other animals. They are all either engaging in sexual activities, have red eyes as though they're on drugs, or are trying to eat each other. Now that she's seen the things happening in the dark place, she can never un-see it and she's noticing that the world isn't really a safe and happy and innocent place like she thought, it's a scary and dangerous place that's full of corruption and filth. Then, in comes temptation. The leopard from before. She spots him eyeing her intently from a roof top and she can't take her eyes off him, she seems really unnerved. This distracts her so much that she completely ignores the bird pulling her hair to stop at the red light, and she steps right into the traffic, falling and breaking the town. She's lying on the ground surrounded by the broken remnants of society, and then she is surrounded by angry animals. The parent, the bird, tries to come to her defense, squawking at the leopard (telling him off) but he swats the bird away with ease. The elephant is on her own now and the parent is powerless in the face of this situation. The leopard holds out a hand to the elephant, and she accepts. She accepts the temptation and becomes just like the other animals that she saw in the dark corner. She's different now, she's become part of the perversion, as her face at 4:35 proves. She's seen how things really are, and her curiosity has outweighed her initial caution and uncertainty. As the bird flies away, we see that its face is sad and regretful. In the end, the bird - just like the other parents, the other birds from before - had 'failed' as a parent, failed to protect the elephant from the world, and there was no way to go back now that the elephant knew that she didn't have to obey the bird's rules, she could do whatever she wanted now and the bird had no power over her anymore.

I play this song on long drives when the "backseat driver" wont shut up. Surprisingly 30 sec in and they always shut up

Pretty disappointed this doesn't last 7 hours

zootopia looks great you guys

I think I've smoked too much Gotye for one day...

from the rubber house website: "Our third animated music video for Gotye is a coming of age about a sexually naive elephant and her co-dependent crow."

Don't need to say a word... to tell a story.

Seeing this in concert was especially crazy. Everyone in the audience has that glazed, confused/amazed look on their face. Cool video.

When somebody that i used to know was a big hit i didn't care about gotye's music because i thought his other songs are like that but damn i was wrong. this is awesome.

I love how the crow in the end is just like "Nah man fuck dis shit im out..."

I'm pretty sure this is the deleted scene from Dumbo when he gets drunk

This song is all about the realization of the true nature of the world as a young an naive person, and also about coming of age when all our hormones propel us into finding one another attractive, the elephant struggles with this , she’s naive and understanding how things work, might be and in fact is overwhelming, she also struggles with parent figures, if you want to see it this way, the bird on her head might easily be one of two things, the representation of a parenting figure who tries with all his strength to guide trough the good path her daughter only to miserably realize that this is also useless, because once her daughter realize truth she will never go back to be that obedient child. Or you can also see this as the struggle of our consciousness to keep us safe of the unknown, that which we don’t totally grasp becomes unmapped territory and that causes anxiety and despair, at the beginning you see a person used to her daily routine, each day passing by, but as this elephant starts to go places she also starts to see some things without the knowledge to understand what they mean, the adult world in this case, she then internally starts to rebel against her old nature, as most of us do when all of our hormonoes kick in during adolescence, she surrenders herself to her nature, realizing it’s also a part of herself and not something to be afraid of. This my little grain of sand about what I believe the interpretation the video might be about, feel free to comment, this kind of symbolic videos are awesome because of it.

You know, I remember watching this video when I was quite a bit younger and I didn't really get the symbolic nature of everything. I just thought it was a bit pervy and anxiety inducing. Now though, I think I see that this is all about growing up and losing your naive perceptions of reality. You realize that everybody's screwing each other and screwing over each other and that behind the facades that people put on, they're really just doing all those things that you were told you shouldn't do by your parents. Then eventually you just become one of those people and that last bit of childish naivety is gone. Watching the video now I definitely think it is much deeper than I realized upon watching it the first time. It's amazing what 15 or so years will do. At least it feels like it's 15 years ago.

This is like an anxiety induced fever dream. I love it.

Has anyone ever though that the video could've meant about doing the right thing? The elephant symbolized an average man/woman going on with his/her life while the bird represented the elephant's well being as the elephant would stay composed with the guidance of the bird. When the bird left, this represented the elephant clueless and vulnerable as he started to discover an even darker side of the world (drugs, pornography, theft, malicious intents and the like.). When the bird comes back however, the elephant was already losing and no longer listening to the bird, no matter how much the bird may pursue. In the end, the bird and the elephant's sides conflict and the elephant loses it.

A round of applause to the animators as well!

Is it just me or does this video give you major anxiety?

This reminds me of all of the strange things in my childhood.

Repeat after me: GOTYE IS NOT A ONE-HIT-WONDER!

Thank you so much for crediting animators and designers in this! I hat how big companies will make something and give no credit to the art or design work behind it. I want to know where I can find more if I like the aesthetic!

i think this is about all the things around us, drugs, sex, prostitutes, and the elephant is innocent and doesnt know what all those things are and the bird tries to help him/her to not fall for those things. when the bird leaves for a while, the elephant realizes everything around him and gets scared because he doesnt know about drugs or sex. when the bird comes back, he is tramatized but at the same time he suddenly wants to try these things out and then he runs away from the bird who has been helping him and turns into the others and experiences all tht bad stuff

When you try to analyze something that makes you feel something so strongly you just end up simplifying it down to a psychology instead of letting it be an art. This is truly incredible though.

i think it's about thinking about what i think it's about when i'm not thinking about what other people are thinking it's about

hallucinating sexy leopards on your morning commute? it's more likely than you think

It's weird that one of Gotye's only popular hits wasn't the best and everything else he does is. How does that work

I don't listen to this song often, yet it always manages to get stuck in my head at least once a week

I love Gotye's music videos. They're always filled with beautiful artwork by great artists. I have started to try out new art styles to develop my skills (which aren't that great) but take a lot of inspiration from the artists featured in Gotye's music videos. They're always a great example of 'if you just finish your work, it will always look good'. The music video for Graffity 6's Stare Into The Sun is another good example

Don't let other push you around. I think. Gotye's videos are all so symbolic. I liked this one.

Too bad elephants remember everything they see. Poor elephant. :c

i was so immersed in this funky stressful animal world i just forgot it was a music video for a gotye song! incredible storytelling through music and animation

Reminds me of times when my eye catches something new and intriguing and I just can't look away. Then afterwards, I begin to see it everywhere and I've never noticed it before then.

that leopard kinda thicc tho

I`m glad people still are interested in this great artist

I just realized this is only instrumental, the visuals tell a story so well I didn't realize that till the halfway mark

It's about growing up. The bird is the elephants parent, once the parent gives the elephant freedom, it sees the world for what it really is. The elephant is shocked and frightened at first, but once she realizes that she does not have to follow the birds rules anymore, she decides not to. She then does whatever she wants in the new world she has discovered.

I think the Crow is innocence (sexual or otherwise), and when it leaves, the power of curiosity takes over. The Crow ( innocence) isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can be controlling. Also, the fact that they're animals is pretty important. Elephants don't walk on two feet. They aren't coordinated. The only way they become that good at walking is when someone (a trainer or something) directs them to do it. The same way, animals aren't careful (sexually or otherwise) unless something is preventing them from being careless. None of the animals are careful, nor do they help each other like the elephant was being led to believe. Back to the innocence: when the innocence goes away, the carelessness takes over, and the elephant's inner wild (sexual or otherwise) is brought out. Permanently.

Just remembered this video today. I lucked out when I remembered it was a Gotye video. "Elephant erotica video" is now in my history with... questionable results.

I just got my Sebring Convertible running again, & I'm like the "Guy on the Green Snake" @ 0:37...! YaHooWee! With the top down (even if it's ~Freezing Winter Temps~); my girls & I are like Cruising down the street waving to everyone & Pumpin' Up Gotye!!! Thanks man for this upload! ~ peace

Why isn't there a seven hour version of this? It seems the logical jump to make.

I think the meaning behind it is that the bird represents social acceptance and the elephant represents people. The bird drives tries to drive the elephant from his desires, represented by the tiger, because they are not socially accepted. The disaster is when social acceptance and regulation is destroyed, but the elephant is better off that way because without the social regulation, he can do as he pleases and meet the desire that he wants to. The message of the video is to do as you please and to ignore social acceptance if it brings nothing to you except misery.

A representation on how innocence is so easily preyed upon and taken advantage of in our world.

This elephant just crashed in non-euclidean space

i guess my interpretation was the fuckin leopard jaguar thing resembled lust. everything was fine and dandy with the bird (which I'm guessing resembled a parent or guardian) controlling the elephant but you know. lust came in and fucked shit up, showing how much emotions can drive us to do destructive things without even realizing what you're doing.

This song makes me think of the worst things and it doesn't even have words: fear, death, loss of innocence...I don't even know. It's so freaky and yet captivating...

I think the bird was trying to protect the elephant, and all the other animals at the end had already gotten rid of their "bird". So the bird flew away knowing that its elephant had become evil or something of that nature.

This was incredibly fun to see live! as they danced around with rubber chickens and a melodica you could tell Gotye and his band were having a great time, and when 3:21 hit, you could feel the bass in hum in your chest.

This shits trippy

I absolutely love Gotye and all his music...he is a pure GENIUS!

How wonderfully bizarre!! Absolutely perfect for the instrumental, brilliant piece of animation ^_^

My interpretation is that the bird controlling the elephant is you sober and the elephant is your intoxicated self slowly losing control

is anybody gonna talk about the fact that with a little help from my friends by the beatles comes up as the lyrics for this song

Dedicating a good portion of whenever I take my next LSD trip or shroom trip to watch Gotye videos lol

the music and the video are ABSOLUTE BRILLIANCE !

I used to watched this song over and over when I was 5

I always feel like im popping pills every time I watch a gotye MV....who needs actual drugs! ^^

this video is about the chaos and corruption behind the perceived order of the world. At first the elephant is under the illusion that what he sees is all that is, but eventually he starts to discover that the world is not what it seems. The bird is the part of him that wants to ignore himself and his feelings and just keep acting in the way society wants him to act. But eventually he has a "breakdown" so to speak and the bird flies away and he is free to act the way he wants.

I don't think the bird is as bad as depicted in some comments (in fact in nature, birds over elephants even keep them safe from diseases) that's a safe relationship. It's even said that birds which sit on elephants chirp loudly when they see predators. But here the bird go away for less than a minute so it obviously worry the elephant. This one is too focused on the animals behaving "strangely" to remember that he got someone who take care of him/her right over is head. He discover other "rules" on a completely different level: the bird is focused on the road, the elephant is focused on the people on the road. So yeah, I think it's more about routine and the way anxiety can make its way in it. If the bird make the elephant stop to trafic lights it's too keep the elephant safe. For the title, it certainly question the relationship between driver and backseat driver. In that case, the bird don't even bother himself with the elephant, the driver, who's too focused on details to care about trafic lights anymore... In the end, the elephant seems to have find another form of safety based on biaised relationships so the bird leave because they take different ways of life.

1:35 I love the animation here, the way her head turns its so good

From my point of view, the video is about sexuality and desire. The bird means the high consciousness of the elephant making efforts to keep him safe from promiscuity and his natural tendency to the lack of pudency. He fights against those growing and useless desires invading the elephant´s innocent and young mind, desires that would bring empty experiences and risks. Facing the useless attempts to guide the elephant through a path it might consider safer and productive, the bird finally give up and follow other birds that gave up also... 02:10 The result is the dominance of desires over rationality.

0:24 just brought my brightest smile :) :) :)

I saw him live at Riverstage, and when they did this song...at 3:20, that driving droning note was so loud and powerful and fantastic, it should have knocked us over. It was amazing, and god I wish that could be replicated with headphones.

Essentially, the loss of innocence.

Oooooooooooookayyyyyyyyyyy..... this won't haunt my dreams at all

You know, sometimes I find the titles to Gotye songs almost as entertaining as the songs they're about. :p This one's cool, it's like..."Tom Waits Lite".

I remember living with my father in a very old black neighborhood and I always replayed this song.

extending this song to seven hours might be helpful haha

Lots of symbolism in this music video

dont watch this when high

Alternative title - When you finally pay attention to what's happening around you

What I got from this vid was a bird driving an elephant around town, the bird goes to get something and that elephant see what hides in the darkness and likes it, after that he realizes everything he thought was innocent (like the red eyed giraffe, or the yellow duck entering and the black ducks leaving unclothed, the snake and the mouse) turns out to be much more than it seems and he wants to experience it.

I really like that this video portrays the viewpoint of the female with an elephant that is clearly a woman. She's relatable and funny and a real parody of the quandary too many women find themselves in - being misguided and/or silenced and/or manipulated by voices inside and out about how to be "appropriately" sexual.

jeez i first saw this when i was much younger but now i understand things also it's still a bop

I think this is a story about someone who has been controlled with fear by someone else for their whole life and thought it was normal till the curiosity finally gets to them. First we can see that the crow is fully in control of the elephant in the exact way they want them to be, then the elephant witnesses something maybe that was thought him as forbidden and he clearly gets curious about. But the crow does not let the elephant to even has another glance and forces him to the other way even though it scares and makes the elephant cry, and at that moment we can see that even though the crow is still in control, the elephant is not obeying as it did before. Not knowing enough about his curiousity and being it thought as forbidden, the elephant is in distress and anxiety, not knowing how to feel which leads him to have a breakdown and have an accident. After that we can see that the other animals come to help him but we can see from his vision that he is scared of them. Then he realises that they are there to help him and actually rescue him from his controlled life of lies , the crow realises that the elephant can not ever be controlled again now that he know the truth, so he leaves.

Because the song has so many perspectives, I personally believe that when we grow into our adolescent years and adulthood, we begin to observe things in a new light without guidance from parents/guardians. We cannot have our eyes awkwardly hidden by our parents if we see something that isn't right. But because we are now independents, our eyesight has much more freedom to roam.

This song and “Did You Call Me?” by Lukaz just hits different in early 2022. Times may be tough but everything going to be okay in the end. I hope everyone is doing well. I love you! 💕

Tell me if I'm wrong, but I think this video is about the elephant being told what is right by the bird, and then finally gets to think for himself once the bird is gone.

I wish people knew about this song along with “Somebody that I used to know”

You can definitely hear the dub influence in this

Me: *Tries to fall asleep Me again: *My brain at 2am

Al chile me pongo bien marihuano escuchando esta rolita, like si tu también...

I love all the cartoon video's Gotye has. He had that one mainstream song but I personally like all of his other songs. I really hope he keeps making more. I saw a video of how he creates his music, and gosh, he puts in a ton of work for each song. Plays all the instruments, one at a time, laying it over the previously recorded instrument, until he has a song.

The bird and the leopard are two sides of the same coin. They both want to control/guide the elephant to do what they want (either with their beak or teeth). Of course, pretty lil artsy videos like this can be interpreted 100 different ways.

what the actual fuck is happening

I didn't know there is a clip for this song. Love how it gets weirder for the end. I wonder what Gotye will come up next time :) Love his albums so far.

not a single word in the whole video, and yet says sooooooooooo much

Reminds me of when my mam was teaching me how to drive 😂

I feel sorry for the bird

I feel weird because I don't see the bird as a parent metaphor. The story in my opinion is about sexual tensions, and here we have an elephant who going further with his life is learning more and more about sex from the society, and while it does the bird actually is a pro-sex voice of its' body... that's why the leopard freed the bird, because it had fulfilled elephant's sexual need... I really don't know why, but it's the only way I see it. The point is that the music itself defines that feeling through the video

the best part for me is when the elephant's looking around and see the drunk giraffe with that hat :DD

I think this means (in my perspective/opinion) that as a parent you’re watching out for the true danger of the word when you’re thinking it’s all pure full of happy, no harming people but once you think you’re on your own you let go from your parents to face reality and once you see the intentions of other people or a poor economic or community you start to see that you cannot do it on your own just yet so you go back for help and you failed to prove a point that the world was pure and happy so you’re parents decide like *oh well since you came back I’ll show you many other things that I’ve experienced* yadayadayada and then the parents decide *oh well you’re on your own now, bye bye* so once they let you go they feel like you won’t be ok out there even though you’ve now become part of the bad society.

I think its about a naive female elephant finally learning about sexual orientation and breaking free from the oppressive crow.

This video reminds me of Gorillaz but slowed down. Been tripping on this through 7 repeat plays. Yay! to good music :)

I'd just like to thank Gotye for animating a reoccurring nightmare and sound tracking it in a way that makes neurotic anxiety make sense

PRETTY MAGNETIC STORIES IN YOUR SONGS .

Me when I found out that im gay. I tried to avoid it at all costs and just be normal, but with time it became too much stress, and I gave up trying to hide.

another masterpiece. we need your music now :

I really like the message here. Its a happy elephant (child/teen/or anybody) who is guided on this path by the crow (parents/family/friends) but when the crow is absent the elephant doesn't realize the reality in which the crow was trying to convince. The crow tries to keep the elephant on the path (not saying the path is good or bad) but the crow is a small influence on the big elephant. So when he/she sees the world for what it really is it can't help but to fall for it. Great song hehe

who remembers that fab sauce commercial for adult swim? that's what this art style reminds me of. so clean and painted and original

y de repente un comentario salvaje en español aparece jajaja xD x cierto muy buen video exelente !!!