As my readers know, sometimes a song video hits me fairy square between the eyes. And, being the pedantic soul that I am, the song videos are typically about the characters I’m currently writing about, in this case, Oliver & Jack.
I was introduced to Imagine Dragons some time back, but as with all good ideas, it takes a while for them to push down roots and become real. In this case, it took a second introduction to Imagine Dragons (via The Muppets 2015, of all places), at which point I found this song called “I Bet My Life ,” and feeling somewhat adventurous, watched the song video for it.
I cannot make sense of the video, except that it seems to be about a young man who travels through a series of times and places, each one more confusing than the last, until he ends up with the friend he was fighting with at the beginning.
The young man wearing the white henley who goes on all of the adventures, of course, is Jack. And the lyrics that are so apt, include the bits about how he’s traveled the world, and yet always comes home to Oliver. Though how he ends up in a mosh pit I am unable to explain.
Yet, at the end, he is pulled out of the water by Oliver, who, please note, also went through the water tunnels of the dam to be with Jack. (Though, sometimes at the end, it seems as if Oliver is the one the henley, and Jack is the one that pulls him out of the water.)
I love it when the music industry so obliges me with such lovely and visual ideas.
I know I took the path that you would never want for me
I know I let you down, didn’t I?
So many sleepless nights where you were waiting up on me
Well I’m just a slave unto the night
Now remember when I told you that’s the last you’ll see of me
Remember when I broke you down to tears
I know I took the path that you would never want for me
I gave you hell through all the years
So I, I bet my life, I bet my life
I bet my life on you
I, I bet my life, I bet my life
I bet my life on you
I’ve been around the world and never in my wildest dreams
Would I come running home to you
I’ve told a million lies but now I tell a single truth
There’s you in everything I do
So I, I bet my life, I bet my life
I bet my life on you
I, I bet my life, I bet my life
I bet my life on you