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Bumping because this is now bugging me. I can almost see the video, but can't recall it.
OP... can you remember anything else about the song? I'm guessing up-tempo because you say he was having a grand ol' time.... but anything about how many people were in the band, or the singer's voice, or maybe any bit of the lyrics at all?
Glad to know I'm not 100% imagining this! Sorry, no, I can't recall any other details well. As I said, I thought it was Dexys Midnight Runners, and had ass/u/med until recently it was "Come On Eileen" or "Celtic Soul Brothers" so I don't remember any lyrics other than them and have always associated the singer's voice & band's number/look with Dexys'. The only other thing that I remember is towards the end of the song, either just before or just after the waitress discovers the shredded newspapers, they're on a hillside/mountain playing in twilight. I guess just before, since it got me thinking "is he ever going back to the diner?" and then there's The Reveal.
Edited by randomsurfer
I was going to say “Boxer Beat” by JoBoxers as some of the things sync up (restaurant/diner, newspaper, lead singer spotting his friends/bandmates through the window) but the storyline is not the same (the band members wind up joining their friend in the diner and dancing and singing there for the balance of the video).
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883!
Gee, that is really similar while at the same time being completely different!
Hmm. The video for "Geno" by Dexy's Midnight Runners shows a guy in a cheap diner-like restaurant. He leaves at the end of the video, doesn't seem to pay, but there isn't a waitress or a package of newpaper.
If the "Geno" on youtube
is the only version of the music video that isn't it.
Bump. In reply to a question above: I think it was a little faster tempo than "Eileen," not quite as fast as "Celtic." "Boxer Beat" is way too fast. Also, as may be inferred from the fact that I thought the band was Dexys, it was a British band, and the archetecture looked like it took place in a village/small town in the UK.
Edited by randomsurfer
Bump again.
yet another bump. Just paged through this list of "over 1,000 classic music videos from the 1980's" and I couldn't find it, having clicked on everything that I thought might possibly have been it.
Oh, and I think the waitress is late middle aged & chubby.
Edited by randomsurfer
My last bump worked out well so I'll try bumping this one.
Not-quite one year bump.
'nother bump.
Additional bump.
4 year bump
I HAVE FOUND IT!!! Turns out I was right in the first place.
Dexy's Midnight Runners "Celtic Soul Brothers." I was wrong about the "singing in twilight on a hill" though.
I had previously only found this Music Video for "Celtic Soul Brothers" but There Is Another. The Alternate Music Video was just posted recently. Or maybe the one I was looking for and was just recently posted was the original, and the one I had found before was the Alternate. Either way.
Song from the mid 1980s. I thought it was "Come On Eileen" or "Celtic Soul Brothers" by Dexys Midnight Runners, but having just seen those, I'm wrong. (Unless there's more than one version of the music videos?) The band in question are all scruffy lower class people like DMR presented themselves as in their "Eileen" period.
The video starts with the singer/main character in a small restaurant/diner having a meal. He sees a friend out the window and leaves, non-verbally telling the owner/waitress that he'll be back shortly to pay for his meal and leaving a package to demonstrate his commitment to coming back. He goes away and has a grand ol' time, and singing whatever song it is. We occasionally cut back to the diner where the waitress is getting concerned. Late that night, at more or less the end of the video, the waitress opens up the package to find it's just some old newspaper (or something), he never planned to come back!
I know this sounds kinda like A Ha's "Take On Me" but it isn't that.
Edited by randomsurfer