Oct 21 2008
Cher’s If I Could Turn Back Time
I just found these old photos I made in 1989. If I could turn back time, I would have had more film in my camera on the day Cher came to make her infamous music video on the USS Missouri. I was the duty Master-At-Arms that evening. Almost everyone who did not have duty left the ship because they knew they would probably be recruited into being in the video. And they were right! I had the dubious task of going around the ship that night and waking up every sailor I could find to order them to put on their whites and get up on deck to be in the video. There were some grumpy sailors that night.
You would think that there would be a lot of sailors wanting to be in a music video, but that wasn’t really the case. In fact, there were so few of us, they had to herd us around from shot to shot, just to make it look like we were a big crowd
The sailors who did participate wound up having a pretty good time with it, but making videos is tedious, hard work. We listened to that song over and over and over, filming take after take after take! Little did we know that the Navy would catch a lot of flack over the whole thing. See why by viewing it here if you like; just remember that MTV wound up airing it only after 9pm since it’s pretty racy. One good thing that came from it was the Mighty Mo always had a perfect breakaway song for underway replenishment that was used until the ship was decommissioned.
I know what you are thinking, and no I never could see my face in the final video. The only thing I have to prove I was there that night are these few photographs, and since I was behind the lens instead of in front of it, even they don’t even prove anything either. But you still believe me, don’t you? Remind me and some time I’ll tell you about the time I was cast as an extra in the Hunt for the Red October movie.
