Courtney Snider

Prof. Hunter

English 2

4 October 2020

“Vincent”

“And when no hope was left in sight. On that starry, starry night. You took your

life, as lovers often do. But I could have told you, Vincent. This world was never meant

for one as beautiful as you.” The song Vincent was released in 1971 by Don McLean. It

talks about the life of Vincent Van Gogh through metaphors and stories about his past.

These lyrics from the bridge of the song follow the event of Van Gogh taking his own

life. Then continuing on to say that this world was never meant for someone as beautiful

as him. This very emotional song has been covered by a handful of artists, but the one

that sticks out is James Blake. Blake published his version of Vincent in 2017. In both

Don McLean and James Blake’s versions of Vincent, there is not much imagery shown,

however, when hearing the emotion in their voices and different body language, they

both give a unique and different feel to the song.

The song Vincent clearly uses Pathos as it’s main appeal. The song is quite

slow and contains metaphors to Vincent’s struggles and his paintings that connect the

listener to his life. The song often refers to his most famous and well-known painting,

‘Starry Night’. The line ​Starry, Starry Night​ starts off every chorus. The first chorus

continues with ‘flaming flowers that brightly blaze. Swirling clouds of violet haze’ These

are connections to the bright, vivid colors that were used in the painting. ‘Flaming

flowers’ signifying the yellow stars that float in the blue and purple sky, which are the
‘swirling clouds of violet haze’. The second chorus contains different verses, ‘Portraits

hung in empty halls. Frameless heads on nameless walls.’ This is nearing the end of the

song where it starts to feel more gloomy and depressing, the lyrics make the thought of

the paintings hanging in the museums more emotional.

The first version of this song is the original, made by Don McLean. The video is

set in what seems to be a recording room with an organized blue backdrop covered in

fairy lights. The video continues with him singing and playing the guitar. The camera

angle switches some through the video but other than that, there isn’t much of a visual

story being told. Although, the lyrics are so descriptive that there isn’t much need for

one. The song is sung very slow with some intricate guitar picking. This song doesn’t

seem to be directed towards one audience, but the main audience is probably slightly

older or people who have some background knowledge of Van Gogh and his life. It

would be much hard to catch the metaphors and allusions made to his life and paintings

if it were played to someone going in blind.

This next version of Vincent is a cover made by James Blake in 2017. This video

differs from McLean’s, even though it also doesn’t give a visual story. The setting of

Blake’s video looks to be less organized than McLean’s. It starts with James Blake

walking up to a piano and starting to sings after playing on a small scale. The camera

angle doesn’t change much in this video and it feels like Blake just walked up to a piano

and just started playing. Changing the key instrument of this song was a fantastic

choice made by Blake. He uses so much emotion in his voice while singing that the

piano complements and amplifies the atmosphere he gives off. This version of the song

was pitched down and made slower, which made the song seem sadder and makes the
meaning more evident. Similar to Don McLean, there doesn’t seem to be a targeted

audience for this song. However, the way that Blake sings makes it feel like he had a

personal connection with Vincent and was genuinely pained about his passing. His

voice cracks and vibrato increases at the perfect times and shows off how talented of a

musician he is.

Despite all the differences listed, both versions of Vincent were very much alike.

Both artists used Pathos as the main appeal to their songs. They showed the strong

emotions connected through the songs by their instrumental playing and the

background, but mainly through their voices. It was amazing the way both singers

displayed the feeling of sadness through their voices. Everything about the song, the

tempo, the lyrics, the minor chords, all set the mood of the song and drew out the

emotions of the listeners. This song is an amazing example of how a strong appeal of

Pathos can create such a strong reaction with the listeners and intended audience.

Both Don McLean and James Blake found a way to portray strong emotions

without having to show any kind of visual story. Their own voice and body language

showed amazing imagery throughout the song. This song was a strong example of how

strong the emotions of an audience can be. Vincent is a beautiful song that connects

listeners to one of the most famous painters and gives them a view of how tragic his life

was.