"Diane Young" is a song by

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson, ...

, taken from their third studio album ''

Modern Vampires of the City ''Modern Vampires of the City'' is the third studio album by American indie rock band Vampire Weekend. It was released on May 14, 2013, by XL Recordings. The group began to write songs for the album during soundchecks on the supporting concert t ...

''. It was released as the lead single from the album on March 19, 2013. A promotional video of the single, which features two

Saab 900 The Saab 900 is a mid-sized automobile which was produced by Saab from 1978 until 1998 in two generations; the first from 1978 to 1993, and the second from 1994 to 1998. The first-generation car was based on the Saab 99 chassis, though with a ...

s burning throughout the duration of the song, was uploaded to

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

on March 18, 2013. The official video to the single was uploaded on June 3, 2013.

Background

The band has since stated that the song title and concept is a play on the phrase "Dying young".

Commercial performance

To date, the single has peaked at #11 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart. It also reached number 17 on the ''Billboard''

Hot Rock Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alternati ...

chart and number 50 on

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Music videos

The

promotional video In video production, a promotional video is marketing or advertising: Arts, media and entertainment * Promotional recording, an audio or video recording distributed to publicize a recording * Trailer (promotion), a commercial advertisement for a ...

for "Diane Young", dubbed the "official stream", was released on March 18, 2013. Throughout the duration of the video, two 900-series Saabs are shown burning in slow motion. The opening lyric for the song, "You torched a Saab like a pile of leaves", served as the inspiration for the video. According to an interview with

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

's The Peak radio station, the video for Diane Young was made with only five seconds of footage from a

Phantom Cam Phantom is Vision Research's brand of high-speed video cameras. The Phantom TMX 7510 is currently the company's fastest camera as of November 2022, it can record video at up to 76,000 frames per second (fps) at its max resolution of 1280x800, an ...

which films at 1000 frames per second. The video concept came from Vampire Weekend member

Rostam Batmanglij Rostam Batmanglij ( fa, رستم باتمانقلیچ, ; born November 28, 1983), known mononymously as Rostam, is an American record producer, musician, singer, songwriter, and composer. He was a founding member of the band Vampire Weekend, whos ...

's friend Borna Sammak, and was filmed while the band was performing at SXSW. There were allegations that the cars had been purchased under false pretenses and that the original owners had not been informed their cars would be destroyed. Vampire Weekend stated publicly that they were "stunned by the accusation", and denied any deliberate deceit in the purchase of the cars. The official video for "Diane Young" premiered on June 3, 2013. The video was directed by Primo Kahn and features cameos from

Santigold Santi White (born September 25, 1976), known professionally as Santigold (formerly Santogold), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. '' Billboard'' presented her in 2022, saying: "Spanning punk rock, hip-hop, and dance music, S ...

Chromeo Chromeo is a Canadian electro-funk duo from Montreal, formed in 2002 by musicians David "Dave 1" Macklovitch and Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel. Their sound draws from blue-eyed soul, dance music, rock, synth-pop, disco and funk. , the band has rele ...

Sky Ferreira Sky Tonia Ferreira (born July 8, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, model, and actress. As a teenager, Ferreira began uploading videos on Myspace of herself singing songs she had written, which led to her discovery by producers Bloodsh ...

, Despot,

Dave Longstreth David Longstreth (born December 17, 1981) is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer and guitarist for the band Dirty Projectors. Biography Longstreth was born in Southbury, Connecticut. Longstreth attended Yale University and ...

from

Dirty Projectors Dirty Projectors is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. The band is the project of singer-songwriter David Longstreth, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The b ...

and

Hamilton Leithauser James Hamilton Leithauser (born April 15, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. From 2000 to 2014, he was the lead vocalist of the American indie rock band The Walkmen, with whom he recorded seven studio albums. Prior ...

from

The Walkmen The Walkmen is an American indie rock band. Active from 2000 to 2013, they are known as part of the 2000s-era post-punk revival in New York City, particularly for their critically acclaimed single "The Rat (song), The Rat." The band is made up o ...

. The video parodies Leonardo da Vinci's ''

The Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

'', depicting a dinner party that becomes progressively chaotic, attended by members of the band and other guests. An unidentified and disinterested man wearing a balaclava, analogous to Jesus in ''The Last Supper'', is at the party (and video's) center.

Personnel

Vampire Weekend *

Chris Baio Christopher Baio (born October 29, 1984) is an American musician, best known for being the bassist for the New York City-based indie rock band Vampire Weekend. He also releases as a record producer under the mononym Baio, and his debut solo albu ...

– bass *

– piano, guitars, banjo, vocal harmonies and backing vocals, drum and synth programming, keyboards, shaker *

Ezra Koenig Ezra Michael Koenig ( ; born April 8, 1984) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, producer, and internet radio personality. He is best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of indie rock band Vampire Weekend. Additio ...

– lead vocals *

Chris Tomson Christopher William Tomson (born March 6, 1984) is an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the drummer for New York-based indie rock band Vampire Weekend. He is also the lead vocalist and guitarist for a side project called Da ...

– drums Additional musicians * Adam Schatz – saxophone * Jeff Curtin – additional drums *

Ariel Rechtshaid Ariel Rechtshaid ( ;) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixing engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. His accolades include three Grammy Awards for music production. Rechtshaid was the lead singer and guitarist of the ska ...

– additional drum and synth programming Technical *

Rich Costey Rich may refer to: Common uses * Rich, an entity possessing wealth * Rich, an intense flavor, color, sound, texture, or feeling ** Rich (wine), a descriptor in wine tasting Places United States * Rich, Mississippi, an unincorporated commun ...

– mixing * Chris Kasych – mix assistance,

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

engineering * Eric Isip – assistance *

Emily Lazar Emily B. Lazar is an American mastering engineer. She is the founder, president, and chief mastering engineer of The Lodge, an audio mastering facility that has operated in New York City's Greenwich Village since 1997. She won a Grammy Award for ...

– mastering *

Joe LaPorta Joseph J. LaPorta (born ) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound in New Jersey.http://www.allmusic.com/artist/joe-laporta-mn000199340/credits/date-asc/ Career Born and raised in New York, LaPorta graduated from New York Univer ...

– mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2013 songs Vampire Weekend songs XL Recordings singles 2013 singles Song recordings produced by Ariel Rechtshaid Songs written by Ezra Koenig Songs written by Rostam Batmanglij