Here are a few facts about the song, including what Damon himself has said about its meaning:
The song was accompanied by an anti-war music video, directed by John Hardwick. It was the first of Blur's videos to not feature the band members themselves in any way, consisting entirely of footage from a 2002 BBC Correspondent documentary (Warship) depicting life aboard the United States aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. Albarn described the video as "the antithesis of the 'Top Gun' image of the American military machine." The video is centred on Jill Ameperosa, a 24-year-old aircraft maintenance technician. After walking up to the deck, she looks out at sea whilst subtitles on the screen read, "Two days after I get home he leaves. It's just too hard. I used to love him. But you can't love someone you don't know anymore ...". Albarn explained: "It focuses on the loneliness of somebody working on an aircraft carrier and the fact that a six-month tour of duty means that relationships break down and children go without their parents. That's the reality of it."
When I was thinking about the meaning yesterday I was thinking of "watch the world spinning gently out of time" as a reference to the world for humans and living beings in general being in danger of breaking down or even coming to an end, i.e. the human population continuing to increase rapidly, over-consumption, global warming and the continuing possibility of a nuclear war happening sooner or later, finally. However, in the video you see Jill Amerporosa standing on deck looking at the sun coming up on the horizon so that has made me wonder if it´s a reference to the world changing slowly from night to day (out of one part of time, night, to the other part of time, day).
Here are a few facts about the song, including what Damon himself has said about its meaning:
The song was accompanied by an anti-war music video, directed by John Hardwick. It was the first of Blur's videos to not feature the band members themselves in any way, consisting entirely of footage from a 2002 BBC Correspondent documentary (Warship) depicting life aboard the United States aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. Albarn described the video as "the antithesis of the 'Top Gun' image of the American military machine." The video is centred on Jill Ameperosa, a 24-year-old aircraft maintenance technician. After walking up to the deck, she looks out at sea whilst subtitles on the screen read, "Two days after I get home he leaves. It's just too hard. I used to love him. But you can't love someone you don't know anymore ...". Albarn explained: "It focuses on the loneliness of somebody working on an aircraft carrier and the fact that a six-month tour of duty means that relationships break down and children go without their parents. That's the reality of it."
When I was thinking about the meaning yesterday I was thinking of "watch the world spinning gently out of time" as a reference to the world for humans and living beings in general being in danger of breaking down or even coming to an end, i.e. the human population continuing to increase rapidly, over-consumption, global warming and the continuing possibility of a nuclear war happening sooner or later, finally. However, in the video you see Jill Amerporosa standing on deck looking at the sun coming up on the horizon so that has made me wonder if it´s a reference to the world changing slowly from night to day (out of one part of time, night, to the other part of time, day).