Elton John - Passengers

What this video is

Released in August 1984 as the second single from Breaking Hearts, 'Passengers' arrived at a pivotal moment of Elton John's commercial revival following the success of Too Low for Zero (1983). The song's musical DNA draws on a 1963 South African Zulu folk tune by Phineas Mkhize, giving Mkhize a rare co-writing credit and embedding a world music sensibility into a mainstream UK pop hit. Bernie Taupin's lyrics carry…

Why it matters

A key artifact of mid-1980s British mainstream pop video production, 'Passengers' represents the confluence of world music integration, MTV-era visual spectacle, and the on-location European promo format pioneered by acts like Duran Duran and Wham!. Its incorporation of African folk melody into a…

The director

New Zealand-born film director, painter, and choreography collaborator who grew up in Italy and completed his education in the UK. Began career as an assistant photographer, transitioned into film editing in the early 1980s, then moved into directing music…