Hang Up Your Hang Ups

I like to listen to Herbie Hancock when I run. Nice and intricate, and it makes my butt shake. If I shake my butt in a straight line, I can put some miles on, for sure.

Anyway, I was out with an old friend the other night, and she is in a period where she is reexamining her beliefs.

"Hang Up Your Hang Ups", indeed.

This cut is from Man Child (1975), but this video is cleverly done and merits some discussion.

Made by a fan, it starts out like some TV cop drama from the 70's, nicely aping the musical theme. As the song develops, so does the video. It stretches out to incorporate some stock footage of NYC and then splices in some movie clips that feel just as gritty. The three I spot (love it if you can spot any more -- leave a comment) are Midnight Cowboy (1969), the French Connection (1971) and Taxi Driver (1976); these three films allow the setting, NYC, to become another character that imposes its will on the others. All in all, the creator of the video uses them to great effect in conveying the schizophrenic feeling of post-modern urban life.

What's more, the mid-70's were an interesting period for the US and NYC. Notice the big cars, modernist architecture, public works projects and urban squalor.

This video nicely documents the last hurrah of American-dominated business. Japan's "Just In Time" production methods and flexible distribution would shake the pillars of American commerce in just a few short years, and OPEC's production cuts would signal the beginning of the end of Detroit's dominance.

For New York City, the mid-70's were spent dealing with the aftermath of Robert Moses' horrible "urban renewal" system that ruined neighborhoods, displaced people and served to further segregate the population. Bankers wouldn't lend to African American neighborhoods, landlords could make more by burning their properties and collecting insurance, and the disenfranchised were the ones that suffered in that city for about the next 20 years.

Anyway, this song is about as funky as you can get without someone named "Bootsy" involved. Enjoy it.