Back from Kathmandu

Album: Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (2010)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song about a dream of a relationship made perfect is a track from Chicago rock band OK Go's third album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. The titular Kathmandu, which does not feature in the lyrics, is the capital and largest metropolitan city of Nepal. It maybe an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1795 poem Kublai Khan, which was inspired by an opium-influenced dream about Xanadu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty in China.
  • The song's music video was shot on November 17, 2010 and featured the band, along with 150 fans, parading over an eight-mile stretch of Los Angeles. The marchers used Range Rover's "Pulse of the City" iPhone app, which outlines your path as you travel, to spell out the words "OK GO" along the route. "The idea is ... we are going to make one giant painting, essentially, with Los Angeles," OK Go frontman Damian Kulash explained to MTV News at the time. "We are marching a loop that spells out 'OK Go' through Los Angeles. We're hoping when people see this, they'll think, 'That's a great idea. I'm going to get into my car and drive all over Southeast Asia and make the Mona Lisa!'"

    As the band proceeded on the parade, along with their fans and a large collection of acoustic instruments, they invited curious onlookers to join in on the celebration. Kulash told Billboard magazine that the inspiration came from a brief period he spent in New Orleans: "I was blessed to be involved with a bunch of second line parades [wherein bystanders join], and nothing will invigorate your love of music like seeing 500 people in the streets banging on pots and pans, playing trombones, hollering along in their crazy costumes," he said.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real Group

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real GroupSong Writing

The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.

Jeff Trott

Jeff TrottSongwriter Interviews

Sheryl Crow's longtime songwriting partner/guitarist Jeff Trott reveals the stories behind many of the singer's hits, and what its like to be a producer for Leighton Meester and Max Gomez.

Michael Schenker

Michael SchenkerSongwriter Interviews

The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright IIISongwriter Interviews

"Dead Skunk" became a stinker for Loudon when he felt pressure to make another hit - his latest songs deal with mortality, his son Rufus, and picking up poop.

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."