“Summer Babe (Winter Version),” the opening track from Pavement’s unfathomably influential 1992 debut album Slanted And Enchanted, is one of the greatest and most iconic indie rock songs of all time. Call it hyperbole if you wish, but if you needed me to define “What is indie rock?” I might point you in that song’s direction. And as someone for whom getting Pavement-pilled junior year of high school was a crucial step in forming my adult identity, it means a lot to me personally too.

So I’m pleased to report that the band has unearthed a previously unreleased “Summer Babe” music video. Like the song itself, the video is a lo-fi operation, created by director Tanya Small as a teenager in NYC. As she explains in a note accompanying the release, the video was shelved because Spiral Stairs and Gary Young were back home in Stockton when it was filmed:

The story line for the video is the same as Grease’s but without a happy ending. Two people from different backgrounds — an indie rocker and a club kid — separately waxing nostalgic about their time together. Back then, it was unlikely a club kid would be caught dead with an indie rocker.

It was filmed on 16mm and Super 8 film and edited on video. I was a teenager when I made this — into Stan Brakhage and Beatles films. It took less than 2 hours to film. All the footage was lost except for a VHS tape with this edit with its enduring timecode. The version of Summer Babe was from an unmastered cassette. The club kid outift was borrowed from Love Saves the Day.

It was filmed on a pier in Greenpoint and in Central Park.

Spiral and Gary were in Stockton which is why it was put on the shelf until now.

Watch below.

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It pleases me to report that Small was still making music videos for noteworthy musicians as recently as 2021.