Holding On

Album: A Deeper Understanding (2017)
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Songfacts®:

  • The video for this six-minute glockenspiel-flecked jam was helmed by director Brett Haley (The Hero, I'll See You In My Dreams.) The clip stars Frankie Faison, best known for playing Deputy Commissioner Ervin Burrell in The Wire. The actor plays a world-weary widower, who returns to his home small town after a long absence. His spirits are lifted by a series of interactions with the locals - including one played by War on Drugs leader Adam Granduciel.
  • The video's concept came from Granduciel's girlfriend, actress Krysten Ritter (Breaking Bad). "I went out to get our weekend coffees and when I came back Krysten had written up a whole treatment of her own and pitched me her idea," the War on Drugs frontman told The New York Times. "I thought it was really great from the second she delivered it."
  • Granduciel welcomed the acting opportunity. "It felt humble in its message," he told Billboard magazine regarding the clip. "Everyone has s--t in their life and times they go through that are not the most pleasant. But you put your head down and you go to work."
  • This was the first War On Drugs track to crack the top five of Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs chart.

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