THE VIDEO Cinderella, "Somebody Save Me," Night Songs, 1986, Mercury
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SAMPLE LYRICS "Somebody saaaaaay-aaaaaaaay-aaaaave me / I lost my job they kicked me out of my tree / Somebody saaaaaay-aaaaaaaay-aaaaave me / Saaaaaaay-aaaaaaaay-aaaaave ME!"
THE VERDICT This song is just pure, vintage, classic Cinderella. Just a good ol'-fashioned guitar assault from Jeff LaBar, and a deliciously growly vocal from Tom Keifer. And the video, which is mostly performance footage, is pretty good too. But that's just my opinion. And in this case, my opinion pales next to that of those two pinnacles of pontification, Beavis and Butt-head. I can not watch this video without thinking of all of the things they say about it, and so as I go through it, I can't help but interject their take.
You know I love when plot elements continue between videos, and this is no exception. As with all of the other videos from Night Songs, we get to see the two wicked stepsisters. After being informed that the video is taking place "Somewhere in Philadelphia" in 1985, they run down a hall toward a studio where Cinderella are recording this song. Let me also mention that in this clip, the gals are wearing completely, utterly ridiculous 80s outfits. I love polka dots, but these ensembles push it a little too far.
Everyone in Cinderella however deserves a special mention for wearing the coolest outfits ever. In particular, Eric Brittingham -- who is looking ridiculously young and hot -- has layered an unstructured, leopard-print blazer over a Batman t-shirt, and Jeff LaBar has accessorized a Look What the Cat Dragged In Poison tee with a silky, sparkly, purple scarf. These are both outfits I would totally wear um, now.
On a semi-related note, Tom Keifer's lips are looking more gigantic and trout-like than ever, but whatever, we all know I love a man with great lips. Seriously, Tom's lips are what Bret Michaels wishes he had. Luscious, pillowy... okay, but enough about me, back to the video.
This is the only video where we get to see their keyboard player Jeff Paris, even if only for a few seconds. I remember reading a thing in I think Circus being like "why can't Cinderella just acknowledge him as a member of the band, he plays on all their songs?" We also get to see the album's producer, Andy Johns (who has a passing resemblance to Joe Elliott), as himself.
But what do the boys have to say about the studio footage? Though they are excited to see the wicked stepsisters (chanting "butt! butt! butt!" each time their skirts flip up), Beavis and Butt-head are less interested in the rest of this video (as Butt-head says "Uhhh... I think this is gonna be stupid"). Once they've spotted Andy Johns, Beavis says, "Yeah. Who the hell is this buttmunch?" which makes them both crack up. Butt-head then repeats, "Why is this dork here?" beginning a pattern throughout this video that supports my theory that Beavis is actually the much smarter of the two, and Butt-head knows this -- this is why he so thoroughly and consistently represses Beavis, whose fatal flaw is believing Butt-head that he (Butt-head) is smarter.
This dynamic gets played out more in their comments on the footage of the band playing in the studio, which are hilarious and worth excerpting here:
Beavis: "This is like 'behind the scenes at a crappy band recording session.'"Butt-head then accuses Beavis of asking the barber for this himself. After asserting his style comes naturally and that "chicks like it," Beavis distracts Butt-head by pointing out that Eric Brittingham "looks like a cheerleader."
Butt-head: "Yeah" (laughter).
Beavis (spotting Tom): "Look at that guy's poodle hair!"
Butt-head: "These guys probably went to SuperCuts and said, 'Could you just like, make it more poufy?'"
Beavis: "'Yeah yeah, but keep the length. I want it like, poufy on top, and then long and straight on the sides, yeah. Yeah that would look really cool.'" (laughter)
Anyway, as we move from the verse to the chorus, the video switches from the studio to performance footage which -- based on Tom's extreme level of sweatiness and the fact that the venue isn't that big but also doesn't appear to be only two rows deep -- I'm going to assume is real. Also there are little things like the fact that there are a bunch of bored-looking boyfriend-types and security guards in the crowd, Eric bothering to adjust his mic (which he wouldn't need to do for lip-synching), the fact that they probably didn't have a realistically-recreate-a-concert budget, all point to it being live. There's also a shot of a girl waving what appears to be a newly purchased Bon Jovi shirt, which implies they're opening for JBJ here.
There are also a bunch of random moments in the live stuff that I really enjoy, and make it seem like Cinderella are both a fun band and that they're having fun. Fred Coury does a sort of Paul Stanley face at one point, and Tom blows a kiss to a girl in the crowd. I also particularly like when Tom and Jeff briefly play each other's guitars and then look super-happy that they pulled it off successfully. All but Fred have switched into long, skinny, sparkly, Steven Tyler-slash-Stevie Nicks jackets, which is another sartorial choice I can really get behind.
And of course, Beavis and Butt-head have way more to say about the performance footage (which admittedly, with all the David Lee Roth jumps and Steve Vai-esque guitar twirling, Cinderella is asking for a little bit). You know I love that stuff, but the boys don't really care for it. It's actually one of their more lucid commentaries. Continuing the "behind the scenes" theme Beavis picked up on earlier, the boys improvise dialogue from Cinderella:
Beavis: "Yeah yeah. 'All those years of hard work and practice in the garage finally pay off when you see the looks on those people's faces out there in the audience.'"See, I'm telling you! Beavis is the innovator. Butt-head just picks up on his ideas.
Butt-head: "These dudes are like, 'Look at me, I'm kicking!'"
Beavis: "'Yeah look at me! I'm twirling my guitar around and wiggling my butt! See? Just like we practiced!'"
Butt-head: "'Yeah, look at me, I'm shaking my hips and kicking, just like we did at practice!'"
As the song winds down, we transition back into the studio, where the producer comes over the intercom and tells the lads that it's great and they're done. Cinderella leave the studio, where the wicked stepsisters spot them and get really excited -- or at least so it seems, as they actually run past Cinderella to embrace Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora.
I love cameos, and think it's a cute nod to Bon Jovi having discovered the band, but you know Beavis and Butt-head beg to differ. They make fun of Tom's line of dialogue ("so you think we got it?"), and then mock-pity the band for losing out to Bon Jovi. My favorite bit is a little before this though, when Beavis says he's "glad that's over" but then Butt-head goes "check it out though, they're not stopping" as the band leaves the studio. I love whenever the boys get tricked by a transition in a video (the best example of this is when they watch "Stars" by Hum).
Overall, one of the reasons I particularly love B & B-H's commentary on this video is because they really hit the nail on the head. What they describe is exactly what this video's meant to be -- here we are in 1985, recording this song and losing chicks to Bon Jovi, and then here we are now a year later, rocking the house and getting the bone-eye from chicks in the audience. I mean sure, it's the Slippery When Wet tour so we're not exactly headlining, but hey, we've pretty much made it.
P.S.: If you're looking for the episode that includes this video, it's "Patsies" from season five. Unfortunately, Beavis and Butt-head's commentary on "Somebody Save Me" isn't available online. You can however watch the full episode minus the videos here.