The music video for “Lay Me Down” by Sam Smith shows how everyone will be stricken with grief after losing a loved one sometime in their life. The video starts out at a funeral and no music is playing. Smith is pictured in front of a casket at the front of a church standing completely still, ridden with grief. When the song begins, it is very slow paced. The people in the church can be viewed behind Smith holding candles while trying to control their emotions. As Sam Smith walks out of the church, the video flashes back to a time of happiness.
Smith appears to be saying his vows to his fiancee as they were getting married. Everyone at the wedding is dressed in all white, making the emotions seem much happier. All of the people are smiling, clapping, and having a good time. The video then reverts back to the church where the music and lyrics slow down again, showing the emotion in the song and Smith is seen alone bowing his head in the church from grief. The images presented in the music video are very simple, yet powerful. The emotion on everyone’s faces at the funeral is very evident. All of the people look as if they are on the verge of tears.
A little after the music video has begun, the camera pans around the church to end up in front of Smith. He looks directly at the camera, singing into it, trying to contain himself from crying. The emotion on his face is very clear that he had strong feelings for his significant other. Slowly, the camera pans through the church across the faces of the people at the funeral who are all holding lit candles. The camera takes a little longer to go past a man covered in tattoos and piercings, who doesn’t look like anything would bother him, emotionally or physically.
This man with the tattoos looks the most torn up emotionally compared to the other people in the church. His lip is quivering and he’s shaking just enough to show that even the toughest looking people can be stricken with grief and broken down. Also, many of the people in the church are wearing sunglasses, even though it is almost completely dark, as if to prevent people from seeing the tears welling in their eyes. Smith walks out of the church and the video reverts back to a time of happiness. It appears that Smith is getting married to his fiancee.
After the vows are said, everyone at the wedding is cheering, clapping, smiling, and having a good time. The camera exits the wedding and comes back to the church, which is now empty. Smith is sitting in an empty church pew, and bows his head thinking about his newly wedded husband who had just passed. The lyrics of the song go with the video perfectly. The fact that the majority of the video takes place at a church fits the emotion created by the words of the song. There is so much emotion in the lyrics right from the start of the song.
The very first three lines, “Yes I do, I believe / That one day I will be, where I was / Right there, right next to you” (stanza 1, lines 1-3), tells the listener how tragic and sad of an event losing a loved one was for Sam Smith. He is so torn up about the loss that he continues to elude to the fact that he would rather die than live without his husband. At the point during the wedding, the lyrics being sung were the vows being said by Smith. This helps make the emotion at that point in the video not so sad, but more light and happy. The music of the song matches the lyrics excellently and help portray the emotion very well.
At the beginning of the song, not much is going on. The video begins with strong piano chords being played alone while Smith is in the church. When the wedding scene is going on, the music is lighter and there’s some violins playing a higher note making the feeling of that part of the video less depressing and sad. Also, it appears that the lyrics being sung are actually the vows that Smith is saying to his soon partner, “Can I lay by your side, next to you, you / And make sure you’re alright / I’ll take care of you” (stanza 2, lines 3-5).
When everyone is cheering at the wedding, the beat picks up and strong piano chords begin again, almost to show that after the good times, bad times were still yet to come. The beat is still fairly fast when the priest is shown walking through the church, but slows down when Smith is shown sitting on the church pew. He sings the last few lyrics of the song, then bows his head, grieving his loss. This song is very relatable to any person in the world, because eventually everyone will lose a loved one in their lifetime.
It shows that losing someone so special could make the will to live, and move on in life, disappear. This is especially relatable for me. I have lost several people in my life who impacted my life tremendously, but instead of giving up, I decided to start doing things for those people. I wanted to continue to make them proud of me, even if they are no longer physically with me. Sam Smith may be extremely upset about his loss in the video, but he knows he will have to continue living his life, no matter how bad his heart aches for his husband, just like everyone else in the world must when losing a loved one.
