- The music video for "Soul Drifter" by Lindsey Buckingham, shot in black and white.
- Soul Drifter is the 3rd single and video from Lindsey Buckingham's 1992 album Out of the Cradle
The video is shot in black and white and shows Lindsey singing and playing guitar in front of a backdrop of trees which is stretched in front of a deserted city street. Many of the shots of Lindsey are close ups of his face, interspersed with full length shots and views of him playing his guitar.
The video opens with a shot of a boy walking along the street pulling a wagon filled with white birds. The air is full with falling leaves, which gather in the puddles on the ground. The boy is shown several times during the video, including shots of him using a magnet to fish an old fashioned key out of a storm grate. The final image shows the boy in a graveyard, holding one of the white birds in his hands, and joyfully setting it free.
A young man is also shown throughout the video, initially loitering on the street, showing signs of tension, wring his hands, nervously lighting a cigarette and rubbing his neck and face and scuffing his shoes. He is also shown walking down the street with his friends, and drinking in a bar. There are several scenes of him watching another man dancing with a young woman as the music plays.
The final storyline in the video is that of clockmaker, working on clock mechanisms while wearing magnifying glasses. He is also seen working on a glass case with a twirling ballerina inside. The old clockmaker is seen looking through an old photo album, presumably at photos of him as a young man.
Throughout the video, there are scenes of falling leaves, representing the change of seasons, reflecting the changes in Lindsey's life. Lindsey has talked about how he felt after he left Fleetwood Mac in 1987, that he was drifting both creatively and personally. It was a time of much change for him, an ending to his long association with Fleetwood Mac, and particularly with his ex-musical partner and lover Stevie Nicks. He also stopped using cocaine and started going to therapy to "regain his sanity". During this time his older brother Gregory also died from the same heart ailment that had killed Lindsey's father, both losses occurring in early middle age. These life changes are the impetus for this song.
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