response to the corinthians
by Douglas Messerli
Tom Goss and Michael Serrato (screenplay),
Michael Serrato (director) Son of a Preacher Man / 2016 [6 minutes]
[music video]
Tom Goss’ and Michael Serrato’s musical
revision of the Dusty Springfield standard is both a music video and a film narrative
that explores another set of possibilities of the seemingly heterosexual song.
Oddly, and absolutely incorrectly, IMDb identifies this work—a strange
one for them to even include since they basically do not catalogue music videos—as
being “a strictly anti-homosexual film concerning a pastor and his son who is
love with his male friend.”
Yes, the work begins with a conservative minister, the father of Billy
Ray (Kevin Norman), reading from First Corinthians about the evils of “homosexuality”—a
true mistranslation and misunderstanding of the original since the ancient
writers did not even have such a concept in their vocabulary, and the concept
and word “homosexuality” came into the human language only in the late 19th century—yet
even that scene is quite undermined by the eye contact between the preacher’s
son Billy Ray and Tom. And seconds later the older Tom (Goss) begins the song
that tells of the two boys’ love for one another.
Billy Ray was the preacher's son
And when his daddy would visit he'd come
along
When they gathered 'round and started
talkin'
That's when Billy would take me walkin'
Out through the back yard we'd go walkin'
Then he'd look into my eyes
Lord knows, to my surprise
The only one who could ever reach me
Was the son of a preacher man
The only boy who could ever teach me
Was the son of a preacher man
Yes, he was, he was, ooh, yes, he was
Being good isn't always easy
No matter how hard I try
When he started sweet-talkin' to me
He'd come and tell me "Everything is
alright"
He'd kiss and tell me "Everything is
alright"
Can I get away again tonight?
Goss’ version is vastly slowed down, and much more in the tradition of a
sung rural narrative as opposed to the jubilant church choir shout of the
Springfield tune. For Goss the song becomes almost a somewhat frightening
lament that eventually becomes quite wonderfully liberating and ironic at the
end when after both boys, having been discovered kissing and after severely
being punished and prayed over by their religious parents, come to realize the bigotry
and narrowmindedness of the world in which they live.
At this point in Goss’ rendition the orchestra momentarily takes over
creating a far more dissonant and experimental work that challenges the lovely
simplicity of the earlier tune. And momentarily, in visual terms, suicide is
even contemplated, surely not something the sweet young girl of Springfield’s
version could have imagined.
But, in the end, these two boys come back together, embrace within the
church and walk out hand-in-hand, presumably free of the religious homophobia
they are leaving behind.
Goss’ work was sponsored by the Trevor
Project, a suicide prevention program for youth.
In short, the film by Goss and Michael Serrato turns the country song on
its head by first inverting it and then making love win out over the hate of
the church itself. The opposite of being “anti-homosexual,” it celebrates the
boy’s gay romance and challenges the adults to rethink their narrow-mindedness.
Although heart-breaking in the fact of how their innocent love was torn asunder
by the adult world, it is, in fact, celebratory as the boys perceive their love
for one another as being of greater importance than their obedience to
religious prejudice. In the end, they literally run off with joy to their new
world. The preacher’s son has indeed taught Tom about love.
As critic Glenn Garner writes in Out, “…the ending provides more
home than could be expected.” I would argue, however, that the ending is what should
be expected and is precisely what this music video promotes.
Writing in The Daily Beast Tim Teeman observes:
“In singer-songwriter Tom Goss’s moving
and beautifully composed torch-song reversioning of ‘Preacher Man,’ the song
takes on a darker hue featuring a forbidden gay love affair. The song
immediately caused an online flurry of comment when it surfaced a couple of
days ago.
Here, falling for the preacher’s son means two teenage boys run smack up
against vicious, evangelical homophobia. The video takes in young love,
attempted suicide, parental rejection, religious judgment, and—hurrah—uplifting
survival.”
Popular gay singer and queer advocate Goss commented of this work in The
Huffington Post: “The story of the video is one that hits home to me. I
spent 18 months in seminary following college before I realized I was gay. I
also attempted suicide when I was 13. (Goss reports swallowed a bottle of
pills, immediately regretted it and told his mother who rushed him off to the
hospital). Although it was for different reasons, it’s a place that I’ve been.”
And Serrato evidently really did fall in love with a preacher’s son.
Los Angeles, February 6, 2026
Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (February
2026).
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