"acapella Disneyland" upside-down

There's so many reasons to enjoy the video for "Leave It" even as weird as it might be perceived to be (not the least of which is the incredibly rare sight of Trevor in a three-piece suit) and co-creator Kevin Godley of the world-famous Godley & Creme production team (and formerly of 10cc) gives us some insight into the process via a new post on Instagram.

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LEAVE IT-Yes It was 1983 and G&C had tried pretty much everything to disrupt the conventions of music video, but there was one tantalising target left to explore. Videos are filled with cuts, edits and numerous scenes that create a mood or tell a story, right? Right. However, what if, instead of one film featuring all of the above, there were eighteen films featuring just one? Unsurprisingly no-one knew the answer, but after pitching the notion to Trevor Horn & Paul Morley at ZTT, we were hired to find out. We shot eighteen versions in all, each incredibly simple. Version 1 for example had the band upside down and motionless throughout the whole song (the upside down thing was a recurring theme) and version 2 had them dissolving in, only to become totally solid for the final notes of the song. Were we taking the piss? Yes and no, if you’ll forgive the pun. Any company that becomes as successful as MTV in such a short time needs to keep moving the goal posts to retain their audience, and we saw it as our duty to assist. Yes were cool with the whole notion by the way, although explaining the whole concept to Chris Squire over the phone while I was having a bath was hardly an ideal scenario and I may, for the one and only time in my life, have said “trust me!” Once the experiment was out there and performing well we had one final trick up our sleeves. A version that applied as many special effects to the motionless band as possible in the one video. It was the big pay off version, to conclude a pretty radical endeavour that delivered one enduring memory. Version 3, I believe, had the band standing with their backs to camera for the whole song so, after rolling film and calling “action”, all the crew plus ourselves tiptoed off the set. When the track ended the band turned round for the customary ripple of applause...to nothing but tumbleweed.#yes#jonanderson#trevorrabin#chrissquire#alanwhite#tonykaye#leaveit#kevingodley#godleyandcreme#trevorhorn#paulmorley#ztt#musicvideoshoot#mtv

A post shared by @ kevingodley on Jun 27, 2020 at 1:06pm PDT

As all 18 versions were reportedly shown on MTV back in 1984, fans were also treated to an "MTV Extra" making-of special filmed for the channel (and you can see Shelley on set at the 13:44 mark). This is the source of the urban legend (courtesy of the man himself) that Trevor suffered from polysplenia. The part Kevin refers to where the crew deserted the band during the shoot is also included.