‘MAD MEN’ AND THE HOLLIES
The May 4 episode of AMC’s Mad Men ended with closing credits showcasing a very catchy and appropriate song: “On a Carousel,” released by The Hollies in 1967. One of Don Draper’s first classic advertising pitches, you’ll recall, was for a new Kodak slide-projector prototype they called “The Wheel,” but he called a “Carousel,” infusing it with nostalgia, love and (fake) family memories. Now, as Mad Men is in its final season, poor Don has gone round and round to where he’s just hanging on, longing for things just out of reach – just as in the song. This video, shot at the famous Abbey Road studios, shows Graham Nash and the other Hollies recording “On a Carousel.” Watch the film, which serves as an ad for a video archive company – but listen to the lyrics, too, as they apply to Jon Hamm’s Don Draper at the end of the 1960s. – David Bianculli