Look Away was written by David LaMotte, for his 2022 release “Still.” The video, co-produced and directed by Hannah Garrity and David LaMotte, was released in the summer of 2023. Garrity and LaMotte made very intentional production choices, and included many images that may benefit by further explanation and more context than it is possible to include on screen. They created this page to offer some of that context and some description of how various composition choices were made.
Song Lyric
My grandfather’s own grandfather
Walked home from the Civil War
From Virginia to Columbia, SC
I don’t know what made him join up
I don’t know what he believed
But his legacy has passed right down to me
Way down south in the land of cotton
Stories here are not forgotten
Except when we’d prefer to look away
Rules were written to advantage
So the playing field was slanted
And that’s how it is still working to this day
Look away, look away
I can’t look away from history anymore
You can claim all is forgiven
You can tie a yellow ribbon
But that old oak tree is rotten at the core
So the monuments to generals
Are all covered up in canvas
And some people say that’s history they’re hiding
But those statues tell a story that I cannot celebrate
Treating people like those horses they are riding
I must listen to my sisters if I want to understand
Though the story is a painful one to hear
If there’s any hope of healing, there’ll be hurting on the way
I think maybe we should start right now and here
Look away, look away
I can’t look away from history anymore
You can claim all is forgiven,
You can tie a yellow ribbon
But that old oak tree is rotten at the core
Hannah’s comments below are in purple, while David’s are in green.
Genesis of the project:
David and I were working on another project and began talking about our awareness of the power of creative work. I was pivoting toward more time in my schedule to create and realizing that I was truly motivated toward projects that were intentionally bringing about the beloved community concept that John Lewis so wisely re-introduced to the American mainstream conscience during the end of the last decade. In an age of extreme and overwhelming propaganda, it is important to me that I use my artistic skills in ways that oppose propaganda of harm. The “noble lost cause” narrative is one of the most effectively subtle forms of white supremacist propaganda. The Southern Rock genre of music and music video supports it with nauseatingly powerful nostalgia conflated with support for the Confederacy.
I asked Hannah to work with me on this project not only because I love her art and aesthetic sensibility, but because I deeply value and respect her analysis of this particular point in history and the powerful dynamics at play. She has been a wonderful partner in this effort. I wrote the song in a conscious effort to be a bit subversive — the song says things and questions narratives in a way that is seldom heard in a Southern Rock song. In the end, though, it’s just my own story. I felt compelled to address racial issues in the U.S., and I also wanted to be authentic and clear about the fact that there are many stories that are not mine to tell, but my own story and my family’s history are indeed mine to tell.
The song began with the astounding realization that the anthem of the Confederacy, Dixie, actually says the quiet part out loud: I was well into my adulthood before it clicked for me that in singing that song, a singer says the words “look away” over and over. That’s precisely what we have been doing — looking away from uncomfortable truth. It does not seem to me that this approach has served anyone well, so I wanted to write a song that encourages folks to make the opposite decision, and look right at this history and current reality, though “the story is a painful one to hear,” as the song says.
I had no idea that Look Away would continue to take on more relevance as book bans and content censoring continue to ramp up across many states in the U.S. I am convinced that we can only learn from history if we face it honestly, and this song and video are a part of our effort to make that case.
General notes about production choices:
In his pitch to me for this project, David explained the ways in which he had combined musical instruments and sound structures to create the song in the Southern Rock genre. In concert with the concept, I researched southern rock music videos to explore the visual aspects of the genre. What drew me in? What made me want to watch? Why did these videos feel like a throwback to a time and place I wanted to revisit? What images, filters, cuts, and fades were in use?
As Hannah and I began to work on this project, it became clear that the almost constant dissolves in the video were serving out purposes quite well. The dissolves, often with three or even four images layered at once, can give the viewer a sense of being a bit off balance. That is appropriate, as that can be a familiar feeling when engaging with the history and current realities of race and racism in the United States. There are also quite a few images in the video, often subtly included, that hold particular significance to Hannah and me. Because of that, it seemed like a useful idea to offer some annotation and context to those who might be interested in it.
Annotated Video Notes:
0:00 I love how the pedal steel fades in on this song, and it seemed right to fade up from black against that aural backdrop.
0:05 The visual idea here was to set the place. Where were we? Close ups of grass fade into a sunrise silhouette.
0:10 As I began to overlay video, I found that we really resonated with a perpetual reminder of those natural elements of earth and sun. Here the background video looks up at the sun through the trees, giving a beautiful sense of texture.
0:15 This is the classic farm frame, the sun shining into the shot as it emerges over the horizon.
0:20 I love how the fret board spins across the frame into the first line of the song.
0:25 One thing we talked about throughout the shoot was the way the guitar hanging down could look like a soldier carrying a rifle. Literal illustrations become trite when used too often, but this silhouette was stunning against the sunrise.
0:30 The trading post background on the camp property provided an excellent replacement for the back of the pick up truck band scenes in country rock videos. David had this really cool old timey microphone that brought an extra layer of nostalgia.
0:35 To me, this line is one of the most powerful of the song. In a time when so many White Southerners would like to move on, and back into comfort zones, David writes this line acknowledging the concept of White Southern legacy, a story line that both our families share. The video fades into the fretboard glistening in the sun as our soldier walks on.
0:40
0:45 When I think about family storytelling I think about rocking chairs on porches with tea and cookies. My family didn’t drink sweet tea, but it represents a nostalgia for the American South. Shooting on this porch was a really important aspect of the visual story.
0:50 When George Zimmerman was set free after murdering Trayvon Martin, I collaged the articles from the newspapers of the day. This artwork sat waiting in my studio since 2016. It fit perfectly here as a component of the video paired with the line, “rules were written to advantage.”
0:55 I love how the sunlight shines so brightly here with the horses in the background.
1:00 This stunning shot was on top of Craggy mountain. We basically ran up from the parking lot to catch the sunset. Throughout the video we come back to this location, setting us in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains.
1:05
1:10
1:15 I love how the fretboards overlap here. One motif that was a constant among southern rock music videos was this idea of the fretboard close up. Here, it intersects with the main image creating a duality.
1:20
1:25 In ministry settings I spend a lot of time thinking about the ways in which southern white pulpits have woven theology to enable whiteness to retain the most powerful spot in the post colonial pigmentocracy. In our ideation phase this stained glass window image came up and we added it here as a lead into the monuments. These monuments are intentionally subtle, promoting a sense that whiteness is linked with the divine.
1:30
1:35 During the season of protests in the summer of 2020, the Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis monuments on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va, were graffitied before they were taken down. My family and I joined the protests. These images were taken by my husband and I as we walked down Monument. Art is a conversation. During this time, the monuments were briefly pieces of art representing the cries of generations growing up in their oppressive shadows.
1:40 When I first heard the lyric, I really appreciated David including the monuments specifically. It is truly incredible in a negative way, the power that the lost cause narrative had in upholding the lies of confederate greatness and sowing confusion about the reason behind the civil war.
1:45
1:50 I love how the sunlight spins out of the frame here as the mural emerges in stark contrast to the monuments.
1:55 These are images over the last century first black people in protest, then white people joyfully attending lynchings. It was the subtleties of the lost cause narrative that allowed for good people to go along with the horrific murderous atrocity of lynching. They looked away.
2:00
2:05 This couple are great family friends with David. He was taken with their joy in dance. With their permission, we included it in the video. I adjusted the speed of their waltz to time with the beat.
2:10
2:15
2:20 Here the intersection of our widepan shot from Craggy with the chorus, visually suggests the introspective requirements in being will to deeply explore and come to terms with our complicity in a subtle legacy of overt hate. Charles Blow spoke in Montreat in 2015. He said, “a new sidewalk on one side of town is a black body face down on the other side of town.” He was referring to police funding quotas in practice.
2:25 I love the way the sun gleams in the center of this overlay as the two shots meet.
2:30 Here we return to the porch motif on “I still love a good long story, I still love a cold sweet tea.” It is the perfect setting for a southern nostalgia that I share. One thing that David and I talked about during this project was that these nostalgic sounds and images are ones that we resonate with having grown up in the south. There is so much familial love and tenderness associated that it is perpetually devastating that these motifs are so often used to promote a sense of white supremacy.
2:35
2:40 “but my people told a story and that story was a lie.” Here Jefferson Davis’ statue in Monument Avenue is covered in bubblegum pink paint just days before it was toppled to the earth.
2:45 We redid this take a few times in an effort to get David’s powerful expression, here. This line is so critical to the overall message once we had this, I knew we were going to be able to create something really visually effective.
2:50 We didn’t have the electric guitarist available for the shoot, but the triple overlay of the fretboard here with the sun shining through gives enough visual energy to match the musical phrase.
2:55 This was incredible luck! The horses happened to be walked through the shot. Through all of the editing, I made sure to keep this moment visible!
3:00
3:05
3:10
3:15
3:20 Here, we have two sunsets, Craggy and Grier. Only miles apart, these locations place us squarely in the mountains of North Carolina. A place that is dear to our hearts.
3:25 The first images were shot at sunrise, these are from the sunset. The bookends tell the story of time passing through the song.
3:30 Mason did an incredible job shooting with the drone. He steadied it as David sang the last line, then flew it up, looking down. Then he lifts our eyes to the sunset at the perfect time to drop the curtain.
3:35
3:40 I love the way the camera blinks in the sparkling sun.
Song Credits
Words and Music by David LaMotte (Dryad Publishing Inc/ASCAP)
Written in June, 2021
David LaMotte – vocals, acoustic guitar
Michael Hynes – bass
Doug Pettibone – slide electric guitar
Jeff Sipe – drums