Video Premiere: “Stranger’s Eyes,” by Mark Erelli

June 16, 2020 Ken Templeton

When Mark Erelli and I got to chat for the RLR podcast, I asked him about the vocal demand of a song like “Stranger’s Eyes,” which my kids were starting to sing in the house because I’d played it so many times. This is a tune that requires more than a few “me-me-me’s” by way of warm up to deliver. But there’s so much more to this song that Mark’s impressive range. It’s the clear heart of a song that expresses something that most people in intimate relationships would acknowledge if they’re being totally honest: that even “after all this time,” sometimes we just don’t get each other. And, not for nothing, he gets the word “prognosis” into a lyric, and it works–that’s some next level sorcery right there and makes me wonder if Mark struck some sort of Faustian deal to pull that one off.

It’s a pleasure to premiere this video for “Stranger’s Eyes,” with each member of the band that brought you Mark’s excellent new record Blindsided playing from their own quarantined domiciles. One of the strangely satisfying things of these COVID times is the creative ways folks are finding to build community, and as much as you know the people in this video are physically apart, they are unquestionably musically together.

We asked Mark what he thinks about the song, and here’s what he shared: “Some songs are funny. Some songs enthrall with lyrics that weave a dense narrative. Other songs elicit tears. Then there are the elbow songs, and “Stranger’s Eyes” falls squarely in that category. Those are the ones where, when you play them in concert, you can see women in the audience throwing a good-natured elbow into the ribs of their date or significant other, as if to say “listen up, bud, he’s singing about us.” Any relationship that has stood the test of time is going to hit a moment or two where someone feels unseen or misunderstood. Even couples deeply in love know times when one or the other feels unwitnessed, like, for all the time spent together, their partner really should know them better. This song came from personal experience, but it’s a snapshot of a moment in time, not the whole movie. Deep down, most of us know what it takes to be a good partner. Sometimes you just need to be reminded, either by this song or by an elbow to the ribs.”

We hope you enjoy the video, check out Mark’s new record Blindsided, and be well out there.

photo credit to Joe Navas