Screengrab via The Strokes "Ode To The Mets" video
The Strokes have released an official music video for “Ode To The Mets”, the ninth and final song on the band’s latest album, The New Abnormal. “Ode To The Mets” joins “At The Door” and “Bad Decisions” as the three songs to receive music videos from the album—the band’s first since 2013’s Comedown Medicine.
Clocking in at nearly seven minutes, the video arrives segmented into eight chapters, each produced by a different group of artists. “Ode To The Mets” opens with an old-school Galaga-like arcade game placed in a Paleozoic-era Earth. The further the camera moves away from the subject, the faster time progresses. Within seconds the viewer moves through the ribcage of a Triceratops, into a cave with carvings from early humans, and then to a small settlement of tipis. A wheel appears by the second minute, followed by an ox-drawn carriage, then the cars and cities of the mid-20th century.
“Ode To The Mets” then takes us through a high school in the late ’60s, a room with all sorts of toys and the technological advancement of the circuit board, a speakeasy, and finally the presumable fall of civilization with a city underwater—all with a subtle blue and orange color scheme as an ode to the New York Mets baseball team. Eventually, the same video game pictured in the first chapter arrives on the moon with “RESTART” on the screen, Earth behind it, and Frank Sinatra‘s “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” playing in the background.
Watch the time-traversing video below and scroll down for lyrics and credits.
The Strokes – “Ode To The Mets” [Official Music Video]
Back in April, The Strokes launched a new podcast series entitled Five Guys Talking About Things They Know Nothing About. The fourth episode and first in the show’s “Meet The Producers” series arrived on Friday. Watch the latest episode below and head to the band’s YouTube page for more videos.
Five Guys Talking About Things They Know Nothing About – Episode 4, Part 1
Up on his horse, up on his horse
Not gonna wake up here any more
Listen one time
It’s not the truth
It’s just a story
I tell to you
Easy to say
Easy to do
But its not easy – well maybe for you?
Hope that you find it
Hope that it’s good
Hope that you read it
I think that you should
Cuts you some slack as he sits back
Sizes you up
Plans his attack
—Drums please, Fab—
I got it all
I got it all waiting for me
Down on the street
But now you gotta do something special for me
I’m gonna say what’s on my mind
Then I’ll walk out
Then I’ll feel fine
Yeah, I’m under his thumb, I’m on his back
I will not show my teeth too quick
I needed you there
I needed you there
But I didn’t know
I didn’t know
Go alone
I’ll go alone
We’ll go alone
I’ll go alone
Back from his trip
He’s at the door
When he gets back
He’s on the phone
Innocent eye
Innocent heart
No it’s not wrong
But it’s not right
Innocent times
Out on his own
Not got gonna do that
Come out of control
I was just bored
Playing the guitar
Learned all your tricks
Wasn’t too hard
It’s the last one now
I can promise you that
I’m gonna find out the truth
When I get back
Gone now are the old times
Forgotten, time to hold on the railing
the Rubix cube isn’t solving for us
Old friends long forgotten
The old ways at the bottom
Of the ocean now has swallowed
The only thing that’s left
is us – so pardon
The silence that you’re hearing
Is turning into
A deafening painful shameful roar
View Lyrics
The Strokes – Ode To The Mets – Video Credits
Directed by Warren Fu
A Partizan Entertainment Production
Produced by Joel Kretschman
Executive Producer Sara Nix
Chapter 1 – Ancient Era
Artist: Ratha Nou & Aaron Baker
Chapter 2 – Street
Artist: Wesley Kandel
Produced by Brian Covalt at Moving Colour
Chapter 3 – School
Artist: Aaron Baker
Chapter 4 – Toys
Directed by Sam Mason
Chapter 5 – Circuitry
Artist: Anthony Scheppard
Chapter 6 – Speakeasy
Artist: Wesley Kandel
Produced by Brian Covalt at Moving Colour
Chapter 7 – Underwater
Artist: Aaron Baker
Chapter 8 – Moon
Artist: James Morr at Arcade
Graphics by James Morr
Additional Story Development & Research: Elissa Nechamkin