Mushaboom (song)

"Mushaboom"
Song

"Mushaboom" is the first single released by indie pop singer Feist off her album Let It Die. It was released November 23, 2004 by Universal International, and is Feist's second single released in Canada, after "Inside and Out".

The title comes from Mushaboom, Nova Scotia, a village on Mushaboom Harbour, about 100 km east of Halifax.

Song information

"Mushaboom" is about a simple life in a small town, and taking the time to enjoy life. It contrasts the somewhat melancholy state of the singer's present situation ("It may be years until the day / my dreams will match up with my pay").

Music videos

There are currently two music videos for this song.

First video

The first video starts off with scenes of a town, which is not Mushaboom, and people sitting around on top of cars and walking about in the street. The camera appears to travel with us through the window of a room on the second floor of an apartment building nearby.

Next we see Feist asleep in bed (wearing a white dress and sandals), and she soon gets up and makes her breakfast, putting some bread in a toaster. She then goes to the mirror and draws a necklace on it where her reflection's neck is with marker so it appears she is wearing the necklace. She looks up and notices the bread she put in the toaster is flying off, and she chases it throughout the house.

Feist chases it out of the window and glides through the sky, where a crowd is beginning to gather in the streets to watch her. Once she lands in the streets from before, we see that she had actually drawn the necklace on herself, and that she is now wearing a pair of golden earrings and a pink flower in her hair. She grabs a nearby man's acoustic guitar and begins to play, floating up into the sky again as the crowd starts to dance all around her. One woman in a pink shirt (Peaches) attempts to pull her back down, but she keeps floating back up; this repeats until finally Feist lets go of the guitar and it floats away. She dances with a man and then the rest of the crowd before running off, a woman following her, and enters a black rectangular box propped up.

It then cuts to another scene in a grassy area where Feist opens the lid to a white box resembling a refrigerator and gets out of it; we can see a carnival behind her. Feist runs toward the merry-go-round and hops onto a white horse that immediately becomes alive.

Next we see Feist riding the real white horse in the streets, and the crowd from before following her, including the woman in the pink shirt, Peaches, who is holding what appears to be a devil's spear. Feist rides through an intersection and the crowd splits up in two different directions. Then the sky darkens and the light in a building nearby turns on as Feist is singing the breakdown; she floats up off of the horse and toward the room with the light turned on.

Feist enters through the window and we see the toast still flying around, but it ducks back into the toaster as she heads through the apartment. She walks into her bedroom where the mattress pops up from behind her and the blanket covers her; a plant inside the room reaches into the lampshade and turns off the light as the mattress floats back down to the ground. The video ends with Feist falling asleep and the lights turn out.

This video was directed by Patrick Daughters.

Second video

The second video starts off with clips of Feist in what appear to be canyons or some sort of mountainous region at sunset with clouds swirling around her. Then it cuts to a clip of Feist singing the song in a dark blue dress, clutching her red scarf as it flutters around in the wind; it appears to be stormy. Next is a close-up of Feist singing, her hair flying around her. Then clips of a forest throughout different times of the day are shown, and eventually at sunset, when it once again cuts to Feist in the dark blue dress. Clips of clouds at sunset are shown, and then that of Feist standing in the middle of the forest. Then comes the close-up of Feist singing, and next we see her dancing with her red scarf from two directions and flinging it about in the breeze.

Scenes of the inside of a building are also seen, and then Feist takes her scarf and runs off down the hill, past a meadow and through a forest, with close-ups of various trees and Feist dancing with the scarf. She then dances on a road and all of the previous clips are shown; we then see her in the forest singing and she begins to walk through it. Once again, all the previous clips are shown as she continues to dance with her scarf, and then it shows her hands doubled next to each other resembling a bird. Then snowflake designs appear everywhere and they are removed to reveal the clouds, still at sunset. Many scenes are shown briefly of various things in nature and shots of Feist singing as the sky gradually darkens. The last scenes are that of Feist dancing with her scarf, and the video ends.

Remixes and covers

The song has been remixed by The Postal Service and Mocky on Open Season.

Rapper K-Os also remixed the song, beatboxing behind the vocals and adding a few verses of his own.

It was covered by Bright Eyes on the live album Motion Sickness as well as on their tour to promote I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning.

Canadian jazz musician Laila Biali includes a cover on her album From Sea to Sky.

In popular culture

• Feist performed the song live on Jimmy Kimmel Live in January 2006.

• It appears on the 2008 compilation album, Northern Songs: Canada's Best and Brightest.

• The song is featured in a perfume ad for Lacoste.

• It is featured in a Silent Night mattress commercial.

• It is also featured in the 2005 Canadian short film Big Girl, directed by Renuka Jeyapalan.

• The song appears on the soundtrack to the 2009 film 500 Days of Summer.

Track listing

1. "Mushaboom"
2. "When I Was a Young Girl"

Charts

Chart	Peak Position
UK Singles Chart	97