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First Watch: Chris Staples, 'Dark Side Of The Moon'

Singer-songwriter Chris Staples put out the most beautiful song of 2014, the heart-rending "Dark Side Of The Moon." Now he's back with a fantastically understated video for the track. Conceived and directed by filmmaker Spencer Gentz, the video uses archival footage of the Apollo moon landing, mixed with scenes of Staples decked out in mod '60s clothing, as he sips bourbon and watches the historic journey to space from a lonely hotel room.

While the video is a more literal reading of "Dark Side Of The Moon," the song itself is a teary-eyed love letter from a parent to a child. "I had been reading some interpretations of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon," Staples tells us via email. "One compelling one I read was about people living in poverty, with no power or influence and living in obscurity on 'The Dark Side of the Moon.' I turned this into a love song from a parent to a child that's basically saying, 'I don't have anything to give you except love and time. I'm a failure so I can't even really give you life advice. Our time is brief, so let's cherish that.' I'm not a parent, so it was fun to sort of imagine that dynamic."

"Dark Side Of The Moon" is from Staples' 2014 album American Soft.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Robin Hilton is a producer and co-host of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.