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Jordan Perkins

Professor Rebecca Morean

English Composition 2

18 June 2020

Two Different Versions of “Vincent”

            The song “Vincent,” was written and sung by Don McLean, who created the

“American Pie” album and Josh Groban, an artist, who had done a remix of this song in

2001 as a contribution to the painter, Vincent Van Gogh.   “Starry, starry night.   Paint

your palette blue and grey, look out on a summer’s day.”   This verse from the song

“Vincent,” depicts one of Van Gogh’s paintings when he admitted himself into an asylum

at Saint-Remy.   He had painted two thousand and one hundred pieces of artwork in his

life.   A good amount of his artwork had been done when he was in the asylum, which

allowed him to truly reflect on his life onto a canvas.   Displaying in museums to

websites and biographies, all celebrate the life of Van Gogh.   McLean sings verse by

verse as he expresses each of his paintings created throughout the music video.   Both

of these versions of “Vincent” contribute to the struggles Van Gogh had experienced in

his life.   His paintings were his emotional release to the world, this allows his viewers to

be relatable through the meaning of the lyrics and paints the expressions of his artwork

in McLean’s music video as Groban adds a different twist to the original song.

            McLean had been sitting on his porch one day, reading a book about Van Gogh,

when an idea had popped into his head, thinking, “I’m going to write a song about

Vincent Van Gogh.”   Many people had misunderstood Van Gogh and he, himself, had

considered himself as a social outcast from others.   McLean clearly believed this
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assumption people had about Van Gogh was not true, so he illustrated a song

portraying his life through paintings to his audience.   Groban, in 2001, recreates the

original version of the song to show empathy and to catch other's attention to the

meaning of the song.   He sings in a deep, tenor, opera genre which gives his

spiritualistic version of the song.

            McLean begins his music video by starting off with the painting “starry, starry

night,” which is one of the most famous paintings Van Gogh had created.   As the lyrics

change, so does the paintings; each painting is Van Gogh’s artwork.   The lyrics

describe each of the paintings miraculously.   The genre of this song/album is

Alternative/Indie music, which fits perfectly with the music video and his paintings.   The

imagery of the paintings reflects the lyrics to show how he was feeling in the world of

suffering.  While Van Gogh had admitted himself into the asylum, he only had a view of

the courtyard and couldn’t even see most of the outside from his window, so most of his

paintings were from memory.   In the next painting, “lookout on a summer’s day,”

reflects houses in a town on “a summer’s day.”   “Shadows on the hills,” describes a big

field with hills in the background with shadows in the midst of the sky.   “The daffodils,” a

painting that is black and white with beautiful, white daffodils.   “Catch the breeze and

winter chills,” depicts men, who are workers, on a winter’s day out by the field.  

“Suffered for your sanity,” shows Van Gogh, reflecting his pain and grief in the world.  

“Set them free,” in this painting, there are birds flying out amongst the field; “flying

free.”   As the lyrics go back to “starry, starry night,” which is similar to the first, how the

stars are painted similar, as well as, the colors used.   “Flaming flowers that brightly

blaze,” painted with flowers that are “brightly” colored in a large field.   “Swirling clouds
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in violet haze,” shows “swirling” clouds in the sky above a field and mountains; “china

blue,” symbolizing the blue sky.   “Colors changing hue,” in the sky shows a change of

blue to blackness.   “Morning field of amber grain,” this painting shows the fields of grain

and the color of amber throughout the fields.  “Weathered faces,” expresses people that

are withered down and old; aged from the struggles of life.   As some of the lyrics are

repeated, McLean shows the same paintings of Van Gogh and the field of birds flying

free.   “As beautiful as you,” describes the painting of a beautiful tree in a fenced yard;

reflecting the tree to Van Gogh.   “Portraits hung in empty halls,” shows portraits of

different people he has met in his life.   “The silver thorn of bloody rose,” displays a bush

that is full of thorns.   “Virgin snow,” footlights snow falling from the sky for the first time

of the season.   “How you suffered for your sanity,” has Van Gogh in a portrait, painting

on a canvas.   As the video comes to an end, McLean shows some more portraits and

at the end with “never will,” with a relaxing painting of the nighttime on the strip,

surrounded by houses and an illuminating light from the restaurant.

            Josh Groban begins his music video in the same way but sings in an opera,

tenor genre, and projects a solemn and empathetic expression in his voice that

illustrates to the paintings.   He graphically enhances Van Gogh’s paintings to have a

visual effect going along with the song.   As the pictures swirl in and out, he makes the

visuals look as if the paintings are moving, which gives more of a realistic version of the

paintings.   He also shows more paintings in his video that relate to the original

paintings of the artist.   Portraying a more of an emotional effect to the viewers of how

Van Gogh’s life was viewed.   “Paint your palette blue and grey,” he shows multiple

paintings of sailboats in the water, that portray the blue and grey colors into the lyrics.  
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“Look out on a summer’s day,” he, again, shows multiple paintings of fields on a

summer’s day.   “With eyes that know the darkness in my soul,” this verse expresses

the dark feelings he had suffered inside and how he tried to belong just like everyone

else, but no one understood.   He shows people who are in pain, as well as, a skull, with

deep, dark colors, relating to the lyrics.   “Shadows on the hills,” multiple visuals of fields

and hills captured by the sky.   “Sketch the trees and daffodils,” illustrate trees and

numerous colors of daffodils.   “In colors on the snowy linen land,” exemplify a variety of

colors throughout the paintings of flowers.   “In colors on the snowy linen land,” displays

the transitions to snowy lands in the fields on a cold day.   “They would not listen,”

demonstrates the struggles Van Gogh experienced and in the paintings of different

people “not noticing” but amongst themselves.   As the song repeats, Groban does a

similar enactment of the video as McLean, by showing the same paintings with the

same lyrics.   “Colors changing hue,” depicts in the photos of Van Gogh, of how the

colors change through the different paintings.   “Morning fields of amber,” display the

variety of fields in “amber.”   “They would not listen,” this verse explains his main

struggles with the people around him, including family and colleagues, just not

understanding him and his kindness towards outcasts.   The expression of the paintings

indicate they are minding their own, instead of wanting to know or care.   “Beautiful as

you,” visualizing the different sceneries of towns that are beautiful paintings.   Groban

changes the melody of the song by mid-ending, by playing acoustic music that goes

along with the song and visual paintings of Van Gogh.   “Strangers that you met,” exhibit

different people in the paintings that Van Gogh had come across in his life.   “The silver

thorn of bloody rose,” he shows roses with thorns on them in the video.   As the video
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comes to a close, Groban flashes through multiple paintings that were influential, giving

a variety of sceneries of fields, sailboats, and bridges.   Ending with a night scene with

stars and Van Gogh, himself.     

            Both McLean and Groban attract an audience of teens through middle-aged

people in society.   They also reach out to people who struggle with mental illness as

these music videos portray similar struggles as Van Gogh had experienced.   The work

of Van Gogh is featured in museums and this song plays along with the written lyrics, so

people of all ages are able to appreciate his valued work.   This would also attract

different types of artists that could appraise and relate to his artwork.   Since McLean is

a Christian, his work is also strongly supported and reached out by churches and

people of different cultures.   McLean and Groban had shown pathos in their video;

giving an emotional reaction to the background history of Van Gogh and his life’s work.  

As well as ethos provided throughout the videos by showing credible artwork from Van

Gogh’s paintings.

            Both these versions of “Vincent” contribute to the struggles Van Gogh had

experienced in his life.   His paintings were his emotional release to the world, this

allows his viewers to be relatable to his experience through the meaning of the lyrics

and paints the expressions of his artwork in McLean’s music video as Groban adds a

different twist to the original song.   From the brilliant artwork of Van Gogh to solemn

music of his life, society can relate to these struggles of life as this world struggles

today.

Works Cited
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Groban, Josh. “Starry, Starry Night-Vincent Van Gogh.” YouTube, 9 March 2008,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsJzFwGVF5c

McLean, Don. “Vincent.” Songfacts, https://www.songfacts.com/facts/don-

mclean/vincent

McLean, Don. “Vincent.” Songfacts, https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/don-

mclean/vincent

McLean, Don. “Vincent.” YouTube, 13 November 2006,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNdYLGAxcWA