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OK Go offer an anthem for 2020, with the help of a marching band

Members of the rock group OK Go perform the song "This Too Shall Pass" with the University of Notre Dame Marching Band.
Members of the rock group OK Go perform the song "This Too Shall Pass" with the University of Notre Dame Marching Band.EMI/Capitol

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by Randy Salas

November 02, 2020

When Chicago-based rockers OK Go released "This Too Shall Pass" in 2010, they probably didn't think the song would go viral 10 years later. But that's exactly what has happened, thanks to a meaningful title for a pandemic-addled world and a quirky marching-band video that can't help but put a smile on viewers' faces.

The guys in OK Go have always been known for their innovative music videos. In fact, there's a more widely known alternate video for "This Too Shall Pass" that features a complicated Rube Goldberg machine running a half-mile course, with the band members singing alongside it. The marching band version was shot and released during delays in the other take's elaborate production.

In the marching-band incarnation, the video starts with the guys dressed in uniform — lead singer Damian Kulash on bass drum, Tim Nordwind on marching glockenspiel, Andy Ross on accordion and Dan Konopka on snare drum.

Wikipedia notes:

The video is somewhat unusual in that it does not feature the album version of the song. Rather, it features an original recording that was actually performed live during filming of the video. OK Go's Tim Nordwind noted that the song lent itself well to large orchestration.

That sentiment becomes clear as the quartet marches through a field and is joined along the way by members of the University of Notre Dame Marching band, who are camouflaged in ghillie suits. Hilariously, even the slide of a trombone is disguised. The production builds to a full-out extravaganza with rock group, marching band and children's choir. Remarkably, it was done in one take.

The lyrics "You know you can't keep lettin' it get you down, and you can't keep draggin' that dead weight around" surely resonate with viewers amid the COVID health crisis. The song offers this repeated advice: "When the morning comes, let it go; this too shall pass" — a perfect balm for 2020.

"Official song of COVID-19 pandemic 2020," one YouTube viewer commented.

Watch now, and see if you can't help but smile.

OK Go - official site