Death and the Maiden

The Verlaines , Music Video – 1982

from the single Single (later added to 1987 compilation Juvenilia) (1983)

"Shall we have our photo taken?" This lo-fi classic offers up a time capsule to a long ago day down south, with The Verlaines performing in a Dunedin flat in the company of various Flying Nun friends — and a wandering pet bunny. Director/cameraman Peter Janes recalls that the clip was shot "in a beautiful old house on Stuart Street", before everyone "took off to Cargill's Castle and made it up as we went along". Vocalist Graeme Downes mentions the word "Verlaines" 18 times in the chorus — a namecheck not only for his band, but for infamous French poet Paul Verlaine.

People seem to love the Verlaines clip — I was lucky, it's a great song. I love music and I love combining pictures with music; I shot those clips for fun not money, we had no script or art direction. On that day a whole lot of Flying Nun folk turned up and we shot in that beautiful old house on Stuart Street, then took off to Cargill Castle and made it up as we went along.
– Director Peter Janes