“Over Everything” is the first track off of the collaborative album from Australian rock musician Courtney Barnett and American folk-rock musician Kurt Vile. Written by Vile, who wrote the track before him and Barnett teamed up to create “Lotta Sea Lice”, always had Barnett in mind for part of the vocals. “I started writing a tune that I hoped she’d do with me one day”, he wrote in a blog post.
The track is very simple, with the main focus being on the vocals and acoustic guitar. The song’s theme focuses on the concept of solitude and being happy with oneself. “When I’m all alone on my own by my lonesome / And there ain’t a single ‘nother soul around / I wanna dig into my guitar bend a blues riff that hangs / Over everything”. Vile starts the verse, he feels like he wants to be on his own and just focus entirely on his music. Barnett makes references to her Australian background: “When I’m by myself and it’s daytime cuz down- under” – “down-under” is slang for Australia. The track essentially carries on discussing that music is the one part of life that is more important to them, “over everything”, which is where the namesake comes from.
The music video features very simple art and creative direction, filmed in black and white in an outside wood like setting. What makes it more interesting is that they lip-singing each other’s parts than their own. The video has over 5 million views as of October 2018.
Release Date: 30th August 2017
Songwriter/s: Kurt Vile
Album: Lotta Sea Lice (2017)
Genre: Rock
Music Video Release Date: 30th August 2017
Music Video Director: Danny Cohen
Francesca Contento
February 3, 2021 at 8:42 pm
Absolutely love the song and video. Thanks to my son for introducing me to these very gifted and under rated artists. I hope to catch them in concert soon.