Fiona McDonald “Let Me Dream”

1999-fiona-mcdonald-let-me-dreamFiona McDonald’s previous music videos have all had a dark side to them, so I approached this one wondering if something twisted would happen, like Fiona suddenly stabbing her bassist with a shiv carved from a carrot. But no. It’s a sweet, romantic song and the video doesn’t have an ounce of cynicism in its heart.

The video has a simple, elegant set. Fiona wears a rose-pink sequinned gown, with perfect hair and make-up, performing in front of a green chiffon backdrop. She has a band and a backing singer, but they’re left alone in the background. It is – in the old-fashioned sense of the word – charming.

To add a bit of interestingness, split-screen is used. This adds to the feeling of old-school 1960s elegance, and I kind of expect the inspiration for this video to have come from an old album cover.

Maybe the video is too lovely. The chorus, after all, begs “let me dream”, a state of longing. Does Fiona look too happy, too loved up? Or perhaps she’s actually reached that dream state, three perfect minutes of loving bliss.

Best bit: the perfectly applied eye shadow – beat that, MAC.

Director: Jonathan King
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… double trouble.

2 thoughts on “Fiona McDonald “Let Me Dream””

  1. This is kinda funny as I’m in it – the “bass player”. PArt of my habit of showing up in music videos I had nothing else to do with lol.

    Jonathan recruited a few of us to be “the band” in the video.
    That is Heather Mansfield from The Brunettes as the keyboard player/backing singer and Shirley Simpson on drums.

    There’s a whole intro and outro sequence for this – slightly Lynn of Tawa-esque…

    Had a bit of fun doing it – thanks Jonty.

    The song itself is quite out of place for a Flying Nun release – the whole album was a bit of a non-event but that’s another story for someone else to tell.

    1. It’s really interesting. The album had seven videos funded (plus the “George” from the Chickens) – I don’t think any album has had this many tracks funded. Yet neither the album nor the singles were the big hits that they were expected to be. There’s nothing awful about any of the recordings, so I wonder if it was just lacking that elusive x-factor.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *