Songs in Parklife

 Yeah, so I would have just put "Parklife" but then I realised it's Parklife. I'm not just talking about that song for which the habitual voyeurs of prefer confidence. I mean the album, Blur's third, released in 1994. 

I don't want to bore you or myself, so I'm going to have a little thought on each song, nothing more. Now after writing everything, I realise I had a bit more than just a little thought --- so as always, I apologise profusely in advance for the fact I cannot be bothered to edit anything I write.

(1) Girls & Boys. It's the song that got me into Blur so I suppose I've got to thank it. Of course I'd heard it and Song 2 and Country House and stuff before but it was the first time I heard it and knew it was Blur's and not just one of those songs you hear all the time. You've got to remember I'm comparatively young. I first heard of the Battle of Britpop (which happened years before I was born) after listening to The Great Escape, and thought, "What, the Wonderwall band vs. these brilliant guys?" Oasis are also good, though, and have, in fact, done more than Wonderwall. That's all a digression. Girls & Boys is brilliantly fun.

(2) Tracy Jacks. I'm sorry mate it's just so overrated.

(3) End of a Century. They say it's nothing special but it so is! I didn't get this song originally but now I love it. It's funny how Parklife's got all these kind of sad songs mixed up with all the Parklifes and Girls & Boyses. It's one of the best songs on here. Better than This Is a Low --- sorry. 

(4) Parklife! Enough said, really. If you haven't done before, watch a live version of Parklife without Phil Daniels in it. It's very different --- not as good, but interesting.

(5) Bank Holiday. I actually love this one. It's just insanity for not quite two minutes.

(6) Badhead. Like End of a Century, I didn't get it at first. I might as well go and say I didn't get half of Parklife first time 'round and got the other half perfectly well, to save you the time of reading that sentence over and over again (and again... and again... hey hey, come out tonight...) It's really an excellent song. Funny, but it's sort of triumphant music --- yet the words are quite the opposite. That's very Blur though, sad lyrics and happy music.

(7) The Debt Collector. Damon Albarn's usual circus music interlude.

(8) Far Out. The demo's pretty swell but this is also good. Alex is singing!

(9) To The End. Back to reality again... but it's a nice reality. It's that calm kind of beautiful. Blur's two hundred and sixty-six thousandth documentary, coming soon to cinemas nowhere near me, is called To The End, isn't it?

(10) London Loves. Honestly amazing. It's upbeat again pretty quickly from the last song with a very interesting intro but it works really well. One of the best on the album. That instrument bit just before the chorus is as addictive as the intro riff, and then --- London loves --- the mystery of a speeding carrrr... Great stuff.

(11) Trouble in the Message Centre. It's alright. Between London Loves and Clover Over Dover you haven't got much hope, have you?

(12) Clover Over Dover. I've said before how very much I love this song but I'll say it a million times more. It's so difficult because they're all so so great, but I would say it's the best on the album, in my not-so-humble own opinion.

(13) Magic America. He'd like to live in magic America, with all the magic people, all the magic people, all the people, all the people, all the people, so many people, and they all go hand in hand, hand in hand through their --- wait a minute.

(14) Jubilee. Seventeen, huh. The he dresses incorrectly bit is rather catchy. It's overall pretty good.

(15) This Is a Low. Go check out B.B.C.'s shipping forecast if you haven't. Both that and this song are lovely. (And if you find the 5-hour compilation of the shipping forecast, both go on a bit long, too.)

(16) Lot 105. Oh, it's just more of Damon's circus music. Wait a minute. Wait, say what? So, anyway, that was Lot 105. Hey, and that's sixteen bullet points. You know what this means.

Dood-a-la-doo-da-dood-a-la-doo-da-dood-a-la-doo-da-dood-a-la-doo-da --- You need a holiday somewhere in the sun. 

Hope You Find Your Suburb

Considering this blog's named after Hope You Find Your Suburb, it should appear at some point...

Hope You Find Your Suburb is not a released song. It's not even a B-side, it never made it past the demo stage. It was only put in the Blur 21 box (which I don't have of course -- I found the song on YouTube). Why was this? Apparently Damon had writer's block or something. Lyrically, that is. The tune is Eine Kleine Lift Musik, a B-side of The Great Escape (Blur's fourth album, 1995). Hope You Find Your Suburb is Eine Kleine Lift Musik with words. And oh --- did it matter what the words were? Just the way Damon's vocals hit would have made this good enough to get on the album! 

All they needed was that chorus. I hope you find your suburb, with someone made for you, with that beautiful musik in the background. Apologies for the following absolute mess of my mind, by the way. 

(1) I hope you find your suburb, with someone made for you. 

(2) It's so very The Great Escape, but that nice calm version of The Great Escape, that world where Best Days and The Universal and He Thought of Cars and Yuko and Hiro came from. Now really this is mostly a review of Eine Kleine Lift Musik because it is Eine Kleine Lift Musik, but this is better because the vocals are so perfect with the musik. It all fits together. Yes, it's very Yuko and Hiro. It's got the same innocent, optimistic, precious quality. (Don't you think it's funny how every time they made an instrumental it ended up carousel music? Um cough cough Debt Collector cough cough end of Mr Robinson's Quango cough cough Lot 105 cough cough Intermission (sort of) cough cough Optigan 1.)

(3) I really wish they finished this song! Honestly I could listen to it forever as it is, though. 

(4) It was stuck in my head for most of today. I like to think if something sticks in my head it's got to be a good song. And it's kind of perfect for The Great Escape. It's all cynical and stuff about those city dwellers and the charmless men and the loveless couples and the suburbs that are sleeping and this guy who isn't normal at all. But then it's like hey a lot of the world's like that mate so I Hope You Find Your Suburb And Someone Made For You because it's the world we live in --- it's innocent, it's optimistic, because we should be innocent and optimistic, it's our life, I mean I've already resigned myself to the 9-5 but it's not resigning really, it's only a problem if we're unhappy about it... honestly what do you want to be, a rock star? It sounds great, it looks great, thing is it probably is great but thing is do we need to be great to feel happy? I think it's not right that we do. Besides, it's not as if being a rock star is special. After all that they end up in a cheese farm or something... even during it they go home to their suburb same as anyone in between... whether it's playing music or working 9-5 or doing nothing at all, what's the difference... we're all the same, all exactly the same... It sounds stupid but nothing is settling for humdrumness, it's not settling at all in a way, it's living life one way or another. I just hope I find my suburb and someone made for me. And I hope you do too. 

Clover Over Dover

 As always, it's very very late at night and I feel compelled to do nothing but listen to a song for the twentieth time in a row. 

I've heard Clover Over Dover before today, only once or twice. It was alright. Clover Over Dover is the twelfth track on Blur's third album, Parklife, released 1994. Parklife is famous for the singles and This Is a Low. They're all excellent of course. I always liked London Loves and Magic America a lot. Then I heard Clover Over Dover again this morning and it suddenly "clicked". A lot of Blur is like that, for me. It takes three or four, and then "click". I love Clover Over Dover.

(1) It's got the riff, the riff is great, as always. Graham Coxon is amazing.

(2) The oh-ohs sound quite like in Villa Rosie, except Villa Rosie's entirely different otherwise. A topic for another day, certainly. Villa Rosie's also great, and Damon Albarn is the king of oh-ohs, woo-hoos, and la-la-las. 

(3) Clover Over Dover is so mellow and pretty. Everything about it is happy, except for the guitar and that other minor detail. The guitar is powerful. Even that almost sounds happy, but then at the end of the little riff it goes a bit resigned, almost.

(3) I love the "if that is that fact, then in actual fact" part, with the guitar still strumming over it, so calm and shy, as if it's not there, and the vocals so beautiful.

(4) Birds at the start, and then the strumming starts with nothing else there. They might as well really be playing on the edge of the white cliffs of Dover. As always, the image is vivid. 

(5) The lyrics are bleak if you look at them separately from the song, but with the song it just sounds so, so nice. I'm on the white cliffs of Dover, thinking it over and over. And when you push me over, don't bury me I'm not worth anything.

(6) During the writing of this, I've listened to the loop of Clover Over Dover still countless more times. If I didn't need to wake up early tomorrow and it wasn't already fearfully late, I would listen a thousand times more. It's a song about killing yourself, but it's keeping me alive.

My Terracotta Heart

I wasn't sure how much I'd like The Magic Whip, and I still haven't looked too far into most of it, but I found this song. Just tonight I've listened to it about five times already in a row and about to repeat it a sixth. Needless to say, I quite like it.

My Terracotta Heart was released to YouTube for the first time on the 21st of April 2015, and is the seventh track in Blur's eighth album, The Magic Whip. 

(1) It's based on Damon Albarn's friendship with Graham Coxon. If you listen to the lyrics closely enough, and know a bit about the history of the band --- well. 

(2) The background in this song is so interesting. The drums. I'm not sure what sounds like the clapping of wooden blocks, but it's there. Unconventional, but it couldn't have been any other way. It's a modern song, but still well made and interesting. That's one of the many reasons Blur is great. Even in their later stuff they don't sacrifice.

(3) Of course, the guitar work, and the bass work, as always, is great, and the backing vocals near the end working with the closing guitar. When the chorus starts, something picks up, quicker than the beat and adding to the sort of urgency in the air, like running down a flight of stairs. The mood is the main thing. It's a sombre one, a thick curtain hanging and piling on the carpet, but also spiky, like a drop of sweat on your back getting cold. You can see the sunset falling as you listen. The lyrics suit the mood well. It's all exceptionally well put together. 

(4) And also... that Albarn is a bloody good singer. In my opinion, the best songs are when vocals are truly another instrument. The lyrics themselves do not matter unless they are very good ones, in which case they can only add more... but a song is not just vocals, and vocals are not just lyrics. Here we have good lyrics, good vocals, and a good song too. 

That was very rambly. I apologise for the rambliness. Have a fine rest of your day.

Trimm Trabb

 As you can tell from my profile picture, I like this song a lot. 

Trimm Trabb features on Blur's sixth album, 13. It's the eleventh track. It's better than most of the tracks on 13 combined, in my opinion. Disincluding Coffee & TV and perhaps Tender, naturally.

How is Trimm Trabb not a single? It's really incredible. You can see talent written all over it... talent and feeling... 

That's just the way it is.

(1) The best part in the song occurs at about 2:50. I'm not musical in the slightest so excuse me for these crude explanations, but it goes all dizzy and vague and quiet for ten seconds or so, and then Graham Coxon comes in, swoosh, thrashy guitar, same riff. You can't help but grin madly at it. 

(2) And then Damon's voice comes in, all distorted and rough and loud: "I got no stylllle..." It is perfect. I cannot describe.

(3) He's screaming at the end.

(4) The intro is very interesting. He's reading out an address, though you can't hear it very well. According to the internet, 733 North West Knoll Drive, CA 90069.

(5) Man, that riff is irresistible. 

(6) The build-up is awesome. After all those mad songs that come before it, you've got a kind of calm, almost pensive intro, verses and choruses, but you can feel the tension building. Then, of course, 2:50. I'm going to say it again because this part is just so incredible. It goes all dizzy and vague and quiet for ten seconds or so, and then Graham Coxon comes in, swoosh, thrashy guitar, same riff. You can't help but grin madly at it. And it just carries on, tension as high as it could possibly get, and then Damon's screaming.

(7) And then we finish with pensive calm again. And you can feel it, we're done here, everything's been let out, there's nothing left, no distance left to run. It's perfect. Perfect track placement within the album; perfect song structure; perfect song.

(8) That's just the way it is.

Songs

Someone tried to tell me the other day that there are lots of songs out there. If someone tries to tell you something like that blatant, atrocious lie, please, think again! They are wrong. There are actually only three songs in the world, as of May 2024. 

Here is the definitive (as of May 2024) list.

(1) Song 1

(2) Song 2

(3) Song 3

Song 1 was released officially on the 12th of February, 1996, and was commonly known at the time as "Stereotypes". Song 1 is my personal favourite of the three songs which exist. Song 2 was released on the 7th of April, 1997. Song 2 is the most popular of the trio, and the only song that was ever played in America, known to many as "the Woo-hoo song". Song 3, colloquially "Crazy Beat", was released officially on the 7th of July 2003. 

(Fun fact: if you look at the word song enough, it doesn't look real anymore. But lucky for you, these three songs, and only these three songs, are. So what's your favourite song?)

Think Tank

 I came here thinking I'd do this chronologically, but I'm starting with Think Tank. 

Think Tank was Blur's seventh album, released in 2003. It's the only album that does not feature Graham Coxon, which is disappointing, and why a lot of people don't like it. You could get that from a Google search; I'm not hear to spew facts at you, am I? I'm going to tell you what I think about Think Tank. (It's all about me, I'm a narcissist. (I'mma shine a light in your eyes...))

Songs (we'll ignore B sides for now):

Ambulance, Out of Time, Crazy Beat, Good Song, On the Way to the Club, Brothers and Sisters, Caravan, We've Got a File on You, Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club, Sweet Song, Jets, Gene By Gene, Battery in Your Leg. 

Graham appears only on Battery in Your Leg.

Out of these I like best Out of Time, Good Song, On the Way to the Club, Caravan, and Sweet Song. Honourable mentions to Gene By Gene, Crazy Beat, Brothers and Sisters, Battery in Your Leg, Ambulance, Jets. I like them all except Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club as of now (I have gone back to edit this after my original writing)---screw you Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club you're boring.

(1) A lot of people are confused about the lyrics to Jets. They're quite confusing lyrics, so I get what you're saying. Not everyone can catch them. Here they are: 

Jets are like comets at sunset

Jets are like comets at sunset, Jets are like comets at sunset, Jets are like comets at sunset

Jets are like comets at sunset, Jets are like comets at sunset, Jets are like comets at sunset, Jets are like comets at sunset

Jets are like comets at sunset, Jets are like comets at sunset, Jets are like comets at sunset, Jets are like comets at sunset, Jets are like comets at sunset, Jets are like comets

Hopefully that clears things up. 

(2) If you have not seen the music video for Good Song, watch it immediately. Don't worry, it's just a sweet little love story, nothing more.

(3) Fans hate Crazy Beat. Come on, it's not that bad. There are three reasons why one might dislike it, I suppose: (a) the frog voice, which can be grating but isn't that bad and doesn't even go on that long; (b) the fact it sounds like a knockoff Song 2, which yes it does but hey that's not a bad thing because Song 2 is awesome, and Crazy Beat is literally Song 3 on Think Tank so it's perfect; and (c) it's between Out of Time and Good Song which is valid criticism and certainly jarring. Oh, and perhaps (d) the lyrics are wonderfully questionable. Poor Jessica Albarn. 

(4) And when it comes, you'll feel the weight of it, the weight of it... Caravan is a beautiful song. Don't try to tell me otherwise. It's beautiful and it's stuck in my head currently. 

(5) In On the Way to the Club, Damon sings, "My eyes aren't blue there's nothing I can do." Objection! This makes no sense: Damon's eyes are blue. Aren't they? Anyway, I always heard the lyrics as "my eyes are blue..." because it ought to be. Oughtn't it?

I was originally going to do sixteen of these bullet points, as a tribute to Advert, and I can think of a few more but I'm tired. I'll publish this but I'll be back later, probably. I suppose you'd like me to promise that, but I'm not a very reliable person, and I'm also not a liar, or at least try very hard not to be when the situation doesn't demand it. Good night!