How much do you know about JFK? Were you alive, or is much of what you know second-hand knowledge, handed down to you in a rose-coloured, sanitised, approved version, which may or may not bear any resemblance to the historical man?
And yet, nearly 60 years since his assassination, John F Kennedy still serves as an inspiration to many, as a symbol of an aspirational, optimistic, and forward-thinking – and most of all, United States.
Head Fake know all too well how much the legend of the man still persists. Like many who die in their youth (Kennedy was still only 43 at his inauguration), the bad parts have been erased and only the good remain: after all, isn’t it only the good who die young? In a time when the US is ruled over by an old man who for all intents and purposes seems to have lost his grip on reality, it’s easy to cast our minds back to the Kennedy era and wonder where it all went so horribly wrong.
The music video for Head Fake’s new single, ‘JFK’ takes all this into consideration. Shot using a crackling video recording style filter, we see footage and photos of the denizens of Camelot; laughing, young, gorgeous. There’s also Marilyn Monroe, beautiful and sexy – and also long dead. The song isn’t so much an homage to JFK as a symbolic piece about all those who have fallen short of this ideal. The repeated “you’re no Jack Kennedy” excellently illustrates this. Of course, Kennedy wasn’t perfect; far from it. Not only did he suffer from debilitating health conditions that would likely have seen him die young in any case, he was also a philanderer and – allegedly – had close ties with the criminal underworld. But all that is glossed over by those who have written his history, and even so, his failings can be overlooked in light of those of the present administration.
Head Fake are semi-anonymous – but it’s known they’re a group of consummate musicians. Their records are sophisticated and ooze personality from every note. The half spoken lyrics of ‘JFK’ are set splendidly against the fast-paced instrumental, which both entrances and delights the listener as the singer implores an unknown woman to be his Marilyn, and to let him rock her world.
Check out Head Fake online on their official websiteofficial website. Bop out to ‘JFK’ below:
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