Old Music Video

[MetalCowboy]

Anyone remember another country music video named Thousand Miles From Nowhere? The song was done by Dwight Yoakam. A clip from it can be found on his website www.dwightyoakam.com by clicking on "movie mongrel drive in" and its under the 1994 heading.

MC

p.s. does anyone know anything about the railroad used or where the video was shot?

[NIMBYkiller]

I love that video. Lemme guess, you recently saw it on CMTs greatest 100 videos series, lol?

The really sad thing is that the producer(?) was on the 1st plane that hit the towers on 9-11. Definately a genious at her art(music videos).

[MetalCowboy]

Well yeah I did, but it's also one of the first country music video's that I remeber seeing.

MC

[BR&P]

OK, on country music videos - years back there was a video with the band "playing the song" as they rode along on a flat car. Power was a South Central Tennessee (if I recall) Alco, perhaps an RS11 or RS36. I seem to recall overhead shots as if from a copter. I forgot the band, only lyrics I remember was "can't stop the train, gotta let it roll on". Anybody remember that one?

[shortlinerailroader]

There was an Aerosmith video, "Living on the Edge", with an SD40-2. It has some good shots of the red engine but I can't recall the railroad. I have that segment on tape and it is a good thing, considering the direction M TV has taken over the past ten years.

I have seen the "1000 Miles from Nowhere" video and I think the locomotive is a GP10.

Finally, on BET there was a video by Outkast that featured a prison work detail somewhere in Appalacia. I noticed a crossbuck in the background and stayed on that channel for a while. My patience was rewarded when two CSX AC4400's passed through with coal hoppers.

[Komachi]

Hey guys,

Was going through the different forums and came across this one, thought I'd try a shot at answering some of these quieries...


Dwight Yokam - 1,000 miles from nowhere.

I actually have no idea, but it looked like it could have been shot in Arizona on one of the copper mining railroads out there (locomotives look like they have the same paint job). Name of the road escapes me at the moment.

I'll agree, it's a good song. In fact, I work as a Disc Jockey at a local radio station (Country format) and play that song at least once a shift. Gotta love Dwight.


Aerosmith - Livin' on the Edge.

As "Slash" (is he the guitarist for Aerosmith, or Guns 'n' Roses? See note above.) rocks out on the tracks, a red and white locomotive approaches in the background. I believe it is a SD39-2 operated by the McCleoud River Railroad (again, I'm only going by the paint scheme of the locomotive).


I also remember reading in a past issue of Trains, that Tom Waits (one of my favorite singers) was sued by Union Pacific over his use of one of the "Centennial" diesels in one of his videos (forget the song at the moment), in which he played good engineer/bad engineer... running people down, lobbing molotov cocktails out the cab window, etc. UP said even though the production company had attempted to cover the UP logo and whatnot, the locomotive is a distinct type used by UP and is a symbol of the railroad and reflected badly upon the image of the company. The video was pulled from MTV because of it.

[asmith87]

The song that the UP sued over the use of the Centennial locomotives was "Big Train" by Mike Watt. I found it amazing that UP spent the time and effort persuing a law suit over a music video that was probably shown on MTV 4 times (3 of which were probably between midnight and 4AM). I think there was a Big Boy, another UP signature locomotive used in the video as well.

[nightowl]

The Mike Watt "Big Train" video directed by Spike Jones can be seen here. The locomotive is not quite real.

The same site has my favorite use of a train in a Music Video. The Chemical Brothers "Star Guitar" directed by Michel Gondry. Here is the link. The view out the window of a train, at least while listening to music, is never quite the same again.

BTW, The excellent site these and a bunch of videos are on isPause.

[Metalrailz]

Another video that shows the railroad is "Pink Houses" from John Cougar Mellencamp. What line was used in this video?


Also I would like to add that in the Aerosmith Video its Joe Perry playing the guitar, not Slash.
Slash is the former guitarist for Guns n Roses.

[Aa3rt]

Does anyone remember a video by a British group named "Big Country", IIRC the song was titled "Fields of Fire" and had a LMS (London, Midland and Scottish) steam engine, possibly a 4-6-0? It's been years since I've seen this and probably some of the pertinent details have faded into the recesses of my mind.

How does one get copies of music videos anyhow? Are they sold in music stores? (Pardon my ignorance-this 50+ year old hasn't set foot in a music store in years, although I still have a huge collection of albums-anyone remember those? )

I did partially answer my own question. By doing an internet search on "Big Country Fields of Fire" I found a writeup on the making of the "Fields of Fire" video. The locomotive was the "Pride of Peterborough" (listed as the "City of Peterborough" on the Nene Valley website, and yes, it is a 4-6-0) and runs on the Nene Valley Steam Railway. If you're interested in the details check out:

http://www.geocities.com/ihopeulikeit/d-tb-fof.html

WARNING-Annoying pop-ups at this site.

[Metalrailz]

I remember the group " Big Country", that video sounds very familiar. To get Videos you can check out Amazon.com. Maybe they would have a DVD or VHS tape with that video, I'll do some searching and see what I can find.

[steemtrayn]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the video "valotte", by Julian Lennon. Used to see it on MTV, back when they just played videos. Has lots of british steam through the entire video, even cab shots.

[michael_m_rubino]

Who can forget the Bee Gees, of Manchester England?

Stayin Alive video, they walk on platforms at some long deserted station with old NYC coaches.

Mike

[Metalrailz]

I just remembered another video from the 80's
Night Ranger "Don't tell me you love me" Don't know which line but the band was supposedly run over at the end

[davidliverett2008]

A Thousand Miles From Nowhere is a video released in 1993 by Dwight Yoakam. The video depicts Dwight singing on a train about a lover that broke his heart. The video is in a block format with two panes, usually showing Dwight in one frame, and the train in the other. As for the behind the scenes info, the video is shot using a GP9 locomotive from the Copper Basin Railway. The unit is #208. A photo of this engine can be found here: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=79177 . In the official video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLprAUar11U , at approx 00:40, you can read the side of the locomotive, and at 02:47 is the Unit number.

As Stated from Wikipedia:

The Copper Basin Railway (reporting mark CBRY) is an Arizona shortline railroad that operates from a connection with the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) at Magma to Winkelman, Arizona, 54 miles (87 km). The CBRY also has a 7-mile (11 km) branch line that runs from Ray Junction to Ray, Arizona. CBRY also interchanges with the San Manuel Arizona Railroad (SMA) at Hayden, Arizona. The CBRY exists primarily to serve a copper mine. L. S. “Jake” Jacobson is the President and Chief Operating Officer. In summer 2006, ASARCO Copper Corporation purchased the entire railroad.