Spoon Pay Homage to Seventies Variety Show Host Jack Clement in ‘My Babe’ Video

In the music video for their latest single “My Babe,” indie rock outfit Spoon hearken to the Seventies to pay homage to variety show host Jack Clement. Inspired by the country music producer’s short-lived series Cowboy Jack Clement Show, the band performed in front of a recreation of the set’s signature orange glow. The band shared the video exclusively via Facebook. They also shared a remix of the track by dub producer Adrian Sherwood.

Brad Leland stars in the Jamie-James Medina-directed visual as the cowboy hat-wearing television host. “The devil can cite scripture for his purpose — an evil soul producing holy witnesses is like a villain with a smiling cheek. A goodly apple rotten at the heart,” he tells the audience, shown on grainy footage. “And now, let’s go hand in hand — not one before the other — and welcome Spoon.”

When Spoon frontman Britt Daniel spoke with Rolling Stone in late 2020, before their 10th studio album Lucifer on the Sofa was complete, “My Babe” was among the nearly three dozen songs the band had made in some form or another — some more fully formed than others. “There’s a song called ‘My Babe,’ written about my babe,” he said. “It starts off as almost a piano ballad, and by the end it’s a full-on, one-fist-in-the-air rock song.”

Lucifer on the Sofa arrived in February as the band’s first album in five years. “My Babe” followed “Wild” and “The Hardest Cut” to round out the record’s lead singles. It was the more optimistic track of the bunch, leaning into a self-awareness undercut by the tenderness of romance.