“Miriam…that’s such a pretty name. I’m going to say it when I make you cry. Miriam…you know you done me wrong. I’m going to smile when you say goodbye.”
The riveting music video for Norah Jones’ ballad “Miriam” starts off serene and peaceful, that is, until the camera slowly pans down to reveal a bloody oar. The single shot video was directed by Philip Andelman who did a fantastic job of capturing the song’s malevolent lyrics in a video that’s difficult to look away from.
In an interview with Complex.com, Jones explained the story behind Miriam:
“I guess I was sort of thinking dark things. I came out of a breakup last year, and I also came out of doing all these recordings and shows with The Little Willies, my country band. We’d cover [Dolly Parton’s] ‘Jolene.’ She punches the girl instead of begging her. I love ‘Delia’s Gone,’ the Johnny Cash song. It’s like a murder ballad. I don’t know. It kind of all came out of that. I loved ‘Jolene.’ I’ve been singing it for 10 years. But I never really understood it until the last few years. I never quite sang them as well until now.”
When asked if there’s a Miriam in her life or someone she was fantasizing about when working on this, Jones replied, “I would never fantasize about killing somebody.”
