Analyze this set design?

It IS an odd choice for design.

The song does have lots of symbols and metaphors but is about a sad, depressed person, feeling let down by everyday life. So maybe that explains the everyday nature of some of the items.

Also....Dusty is FLAWLESS on this song, as usual.

Interesting discussion about the song:

I love these old sets!

This is The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour..

The set designer instructed the prop department at CBS to search the warehouse for some old-timey things to put on pedestals.

They brought over a truck load of shit, and the set guy chose what he wanted.

It was probably as simple as that. You're over thinking it.

BTW: That show often did dark moody sets for its musical numbers. Quite a contrast from the bright colorful set design you'd see elsewhere on TV in the later half of the 1960s.

Here's Bobby Gentry on Smothers Brothers with a moody set design in a victoriana style.

Sets were quite cheap in the early days.

Sets and costumes got more pricy as time went on, especially for variety shows. It was probably the biggest reason Carol Burnett ended her show when she did - I'm sure they could have gone a few more years but CBS, after many years of basically opening the checkbook, pushed back on costs.

[quote]Sets were quite cheap in the early days.

When the networks began switching to color in 1966, sets on the variety shows became more elaborate.

[quote]R4 The set designer instructed the prop department at CBS to search the warehouse for some old-timey things to put on pedestals. They brought over a truck load of shit, and the set guy chose what he wanted. It was probably as simple as that. You're over thinking it.

Well, there’s a little more going on than that. The biggest object is a grandfather clock, directly behind the singer. Then there are 11 pedestals arranged in a circle along with the clock, so from above this is all an allusion to a clock face.

The cupid aside, the black props are set on the pedestals except for two brass items directly across from each other, which are both suspended from the ceiling (a chandelier and a kettle.) I guess this is just for variety, but it’s purposefully symmetrical. And those two hanging objects are the only items not black. I imagine they’re brass to compliment the singer’s gold hair.

Not enough dangling cherubs.

Or cowbell.

Early yard sale.

Dusty's thinking of cancelling the yard sale because she thinks it's gonna rain today.

OH, JEBUS!

It’s very, very masculine.

Is this the same set?

OMG yes! That’s so tacky to recycle the set.

On the other hand, perhaps that’s her living room.

She's expressing her ambivalence about yet again putting all that shit into yet another Uhaul and moving in with yet another new girlfriend. You can hear the, "I'm getting too old for this shit" in her voice.