"Aberdeen" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Cage the Elephant Cage the Elephant is an American rock band formed in 2006 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They moved to England, U.K. and settled in London in 2008, shortly before their self-titled first album was released. The band currently consists of Matt S ...

. It is the third single from their second studio album, ''

Thank You, Happy Birthday ''Thank You Happy Birthday'' is the second studio album by American rock band Cage the Elephant. It was released on January 11, 2011 to positive critical reception. The album was produced by Jay Joyce, who worked in the same capacity on the band' ...

'' (2011). The song was originally named Maybelline but was later changed to Aberdeen because Cage the Elephant's lead singer

Matt Shultz Matthew Ray Shultz (born October 23, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician best known as the lead singer and occasional guitarist for the American rock band Cage the Elephant. Early life Matthew Ray Shultz was born on 23 Octobe ...

couldn't stop singing the city's name while rehearsing in

Aberdeen, Scotland Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), an ...

Music video

The music video is a

clay animation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

video and does not feature the band. It is about a clumsy, lonely dragon-like monster who travels to a busy city at night trying to make friends. Instead, he indirectly causes the deaths of 3 people and a dog, much to his shock. He quickly retreats to his lair and watches the news, where he begins to sob as he finds that the city has demonized him. Throughout the video he is seen creating a replica city. When he returns to the city, he holds a statue he made of himself and another human holding hands, with "FRIENDS" engraved on the bottom. As he walks through the city a second time, police shine a spotlight in his eyes, causing him to drop the statue. When the police inspect the statue, which is now broken, they see the monster trying to eat a person and the engraving of "FRIENDS" is smashed and says "DIE". Subsequently the police officers open fire on the dragon, and the dragon kicks one of them. Once again he hurries back to his lair, to later be intruded upon by soldiers and a tank. All of the soldiers open fire on the dragon with automatic weapons, and one fires consecutive rockets at him, causing the beast to lose an arm and leg. The tank then fires a shell directly at his head, causing it to explode. One of the monster's eyes rolls over toward the General, prompting him to casually shoot the eye. With the beast subdued, the General lights a cigar and walks over to a statue of the creature and a human smiling together, and a look of surprise washes over him as he realizes that the dragon wanted to be friends.

Track listing

Track written by Cage the Elephant.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

2011 singles Cage the Elephant songs Song recordings produced by Jay Joyce 2011 songs Jive Records singles Songs written by Matt Shultz (singer) {{2010s-rock-song-stub