Westporters of a certain age remember Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Our House.”
It’s a very, very, very hummable song about a “very, very, very fine house.”
It’s also 50 years old.
To celebrate the golden anniversary of its golden oldie album, “Déjà Vu” — and, of course, to promote a deluxe re-release of the original, complete with demos, outtakes, alternate takes and perhaps flowers in the vase you bought today — Warner Music commissioned Jeff Scher to create an animated version.
He was a Staples High School sophomore when “Our House” floated onto record players across America. Now he’s a filmmaker/animator, working in a Cross Highway studio a few steps from his house.
Which, interestingly, is now the house of “Our House.”
Scher says:
Graham Nash wrote the song for Joni Mitchell in 1969. The house was her Laurel Canyon home where they lived at the time.
While it’s a very fine house, it didn’t quite fit the needs of animation, which was to read instantly as a kind of icon for anybody’s house. So after a dozen attempts, I realized that our house could be that house.
What could be more universal than a Federal style farmhouse? And the minute I started cutting it out, it felt right.
Jeff Scher has created a very, very, very fine video.
To go along with his — well, you know — house.
BONUS CUT: The video was animated by hand using cut paper, on black felt under a camera with a traditional animation stand. The style of cut paper was inspired by former Weston graphic designer Paul Rand, who often used it in his work.
