| Blur – For Tomorrow Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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"London's so nice back in your seamless rhymes, but we're lost on the Westway So we hold each other tightly and hold on for tomorrow" To me that says it all. The London of the 1990s bears no resemblance to the city that's been written about and romanticized by the great English writers. Modernity (or Modern Life) has forever remade it. |
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| Blur – Coffee & TV Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Graham's guitar solo (which involves switching various pedals on and off really quickly) is meant to give the listener the sense of somebody flipping through channels. | |
| Blur – Jubilee Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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"He got butane he got plastic bags " Butane can give you a cheap high if you inhale it. It's one of the stupidest ways to get stoned, actually, but it is used by some of the youth in the UK. |
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| Blur – Popscene Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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"And everyone is a clever clone A chrome-covered clone am I" Obviously speaks to the derivative tradition of pop music. A tradition that would be very much at the centre of Britpop. I don't think it's a coincidence that the first Britpop single featured Damon's best lyrics yet. A major step forward from some of the stuff he wrote on LEISURE. The entire band had a new maturity at that point, I think. They'd found their direction. |
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| Blur – Yuko and Hiro Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The conceit of two co-workers in love would have appealed to Albarn at the time. He and Justine worked in the same industry, were both pop stars and he did a lot to move the first Elastica album along. It was later said that he'd done most of the songwriting. |
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| Blur – Fool's Day Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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zum's on the money. Albarn blends the old observations of English day to day life ("on this little island", Ladbrook Grove) with an awareness of himself, Blur and how the four members of the band have grown and changed: "So meditate On what we've all become On a cold day in springtime Civil war Is what we all were born into Raise your left hand, right, sing" It's quite optimistic about the future of the band. |
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| Blur – Far Out Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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It's very Syd Barrett. Blur were huge fans of his, particularly Graham and Damon. I think Damon even played at the Barrett tribute concert in 2007. "Strange News From Another Star" shoes the same influence, but it's much darker. |
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| Blur – Far Out Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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It's very Syd Barrett. Blur were huge fans of his, particularly Graham and Damon. I think Damon even played at the Barrett tribute concert in 2007. "Strange News From Another Star" shoes the same influence, but it's much darker. |
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| Blur – Stereotypes Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Classic naughty suburbs bit of writing. We may see them as stereotypical, but in reality some of them are deeply f#cked up. Or just fun and kinky. |
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| Blur – Threadneedle Street Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Threadneedle Street - location of the Bank of England. It has the same connotations as Wall Street does for Americans or Bay Street has for us Canadians. | |
| Blur – Sunday Sunday Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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"You meet an old soldier and talk of the past He fought for us in two world wars And says the England he knew is no more" I've always found these lines a bit heartbreaking (in the middle of a pretty chirpy number). We all have problems with the way the Greatest Generation was treated as they grew elderly. |
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| Blur – Pressure on Julian Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Yeah, it's about Julian Cope. Dave Balfe, their boss at Food records and the person "Country House" is based on, used to be the keyboardist for the Teardrop Explodes - Julian Cope was their lead singer. So it was a bit of a dig at Balfe, who I think Damon detests. | |
| Blur – B.L.U.R.E.M.I. Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Damon had seen all these second rate bands rip off the first wave of Britpop and he'd probably had enough. By 1998, we were talking about bands like Travis and The Stereophonics still milking the old derivative cow and enjoying mass commercial success. I think the title nods not only to the record company, but to the Sex Pistols also, who had their own song called "EMI". The song itself is quite punky, so that's a natural connection to make. |
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| Blur – Mr. Robinson's Quango Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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The song was written in 94-95, and Britain was still under Tory rule. Thathcer was gone, but John Major was the PM and Damon obviously was and is a leftist (and was a famous Labour Supporter at that time). The Conservative (Mr. Robinson) is obviously a filthy old pervert. |
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| Blur – Villa Rosie Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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It's a total pub song. Bunch of nebbish people get off work every night and head to Villa Rosie (the name of the pub) and get drunk ("so tasty"). There's more to it. I think the second verse is about a gardener ('leaches in the long grass'). |
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| Blur – Tracy Jacks Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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It's about someone living for years smack dab in the mundane world who finally cracks. He rips down his house (huge metaphor, obviously), boards a train, gets naked and winds up at the beach. The beach has always been a very significant place to British writers. Watch QUADROPHENIA and you'll start to get the picture. And of course his presence at the beach is confirmed by Graham who manipulates his delay pedal to make the guitar line sound like a seagul (he's THAT good). Check it out at around 2:30. |
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| Blur – On Your Own Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Most of the comments here are bang on, I think. You'll notice Albarn starting to insert American references more often at this point. Modern Life, Parklife and The Great Escape had the odd snide commentary on America, but they become more neutral and palatable (for Americans) on Blur's 1997 album. And how 'bout that extraordinary guitar riff. Apparently Coxon was using the hold function on a DD-3 pedal with the feedback turned way up. |
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