blurcentral.co.uk • history • fun song facts

• News
• Discography
• Lyrics
• History
• Archive
• Links
• Damon
• Graham
• Alex
• Dave
• Media
• About

Back to: History

Berserk
(b-side of 'Bang' CD)

Developing his admiration for Syd Barrett, Graham instigated this 6 minute 50 second instrumental freakout that combines elements of four songs ('No Good Trying', 'No Man's Land', 'Baby Lemonade' and 'Late Night') from Barrett's two solo LPs of 1970. A loud guitar/organ drone, it features Graham on a heavily distorted guitar, run backwards - a sound he likens to "a wasp buzzing all the way through it" - as well as playing one of two drum loops (Dave plays the other). Listeners who stay the distance suffer repeated aural shocks as Graham overdubs an additional guitar at formidable volume (particularly severe at 4.49 and 6.06), and after the cacophony has abated the song appears audibly to smoke in the air. Reactions are mixed. "This is what Graham's album will sound like," said Alex in 1995 [and it's quite similar to 'Lake', it must be said - Blurcentral]. "Not worth dwelling on," said Andy Ross. Indisputably the most unhinged of the early Blur recordings.

I'm All Over
(b-side of 'There's No Other Way' 12-inch and CD)

A song from the Blur live set of early 1990, 'I'm All Over' is a short (1.57) but endearing sprint on the subject of detachment, with Graham's voice harmonising loosely on the choruses with Damon's rather in the style of early REM. The inspiration for Dave's spluttering, jerky drum-and-cymbal pattern was 'Where Are You Baby?' by Betty Boo, which Graham instructed him to copy. Graham takes little pride in this, calling 'I'm All Over' "a ridiculous song with a terrible, synthetic drumbeat."

Explain
(b-side of 'Bang' 12-inch and CD)

In 1995, much was made of Blur's supposed antipathy towards American music. Their tastes, however, often belied this. 'Explain', an old Seymour song written during the manic nights at the Beat Factory, reflects one of the band's then obsessions: The Pixies ("The last great American band. They piss on Nirvana" - Alex). The song still commands the band's affection. As Damon pointed out, "We didn't want to get rid of Seymour songs because they were part of what we were." 'Explain' was recorded with Stephen Street during the same May '91 session at Maison Rouge that produced 'High Cool'.

Inertia
(b-side of 'There's No Other Way' 7-inch, 12-inch and CD)

'Inertia' came into being during rehearsals at The Premises on the Hackney Road, a jazz studio memorably snooty towards this fledgling rock group. 'Inertia' shares the blissed-out mood of 'Slow Down' but is much more successful. This track, recorded at Matrix Studios in Little Russell Street in early 1991 along with 'Luminous' and 'Uncle Love', marked Blur's first collaboration with engineer John Smith. Smith came up with new sounds and unusual textures. All of the band now wish that 'Inertia', 'Mr Briggs', 'Luminous' and 'Uncle Love' had been included on 'Leisure'. "It would actually have made sense then as the link between Seymour and 'Modern Life Is Rubbish'," said Damon.

Birthday
(on 'Leisure')

Both Andy Ross and Dave Balfe were taken by 'Birthday', not least for its dissimilarity to Blur's usually energetic live style. Produced by Mike Thorne, it consists mainly of piano, backwards guitar, tambourine and multi-tracked harmony vocals, although there is a rather pointless grungey explosion of ensemble noise at 2.42 - something about which Damon had well-founded doubts. Written by Damon at the piano and reflecting his non-rock sensibilities, this limpid, dislocated tune contrasts with almost everything else on 'Leisure'. Graham was envious, thinking it "one of the greatest little songs I'd ever heard". It dates back to when Graham and Alex were in halls of residence in Camberwell and Damon was living in East Ham. It was written the morning after a legendary night out. Alex, Graham and a friend had attended the annual private view at the Slade School Of Art and, armed with a stolen credit card, had got hammered. In the aftermath, Alex fell asleep on a night bus and arrived in Thamesmead (nine miles away). Graham ended up in bed with his best friend and the latter's girlfriend. Damon spent the night in the cells at Holborn police station with a Gurkha. Returning home next day, he wrote 'Birthday'.

Bone Bag
(b-side of 'For Tomorrow' CD)

A largely undiscovered gem from the same October 1991 sessions as 'Oily Water' and 'Resigned', 'Bone Bag' sat around for 18 months waiting for release. The distinctive percussive effect at the start is a sample of an Indian tabla. Dave programmed the rhythms and adjourned to the pub. He returned to find the song finished. Two tremolo guitars slightly out of phase produce a sleepy, dislocated ambience. Graham says of the tender lyric, "I quite like it when Damon gets soppy but sometimes he's embarrassed."

My Ark
(b-side of 'Chemical World' 12-inch and CD)

Unloved dirge demoed around the same time as 'Popscene' in October 1991. During a b-side famine in 1993, 'My Ark' came out. Driven by an ascending lick which Damon compares to late '60s West Coast rock bores Blue Cheer, its nasty transatlantic vibe is dismissed by Dave as "Lenny Kravitz drinks a cup of tea". "It's a bit dreary," is Graham's estimation.

Miss America
(on 'Modern Life Is Rubbish')

On December 10, 1991, Blur had been to The Plough near Matrix with publisher Mike Smith, who was celebrating his move from MCA to EMI Publishing (where Blur later rejoined him). Graham returned to Matrix to add guitar parts to 'Miss America' while the others went with Smith to see Pulp play at the Polytechnic Of North London. On their return they found a very drunk Graham banging on a chair-leg - it can be heard clearly throughout the track. Spotting Smith entering the studio, Graham shouts the acknowledgement ("Michael!") that can be heard at the track's start. Rumours on the internet that the cry is from Interview With A Vampire are incorrect. Dave does not play on 'Miss America' and is credited on the 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' sleeve as being in The Plough. Blur had just finished their first US tour and their grim experiences contribute to the song's sour mood.

Peach
(b-side of 'For Tomorrow' CD)

Recorded in January 1992, this spectral ballad became a favourite on US college radio. Unusually, it features a harmonium (an antique foot-pumped keyboard often used in churches and on Nico albums) that Damon had bought in Clapham. "It cost about five pounds and then he spent about a thousand doing it up," recalls Alex. Dave describes it as "the Victorian's idea of a portable keyboard. We tried to use it onstage a couple of times but it looked like a man riding a child's bicycle." The song's anarchic disintegrating sound reflects the group's mood at the time, but it remains a favourite of Damon's: "I still strum it to myself on acoustic guitar for fun". The ending imitates a record sticking in a groove.

Intermission
(on 'Modern Life Is Rubbish)

Originally 'The Intro' (aka 'The Opening'). In 1989 Seymour used to begin their gigs with it, if the venue had a piano. 'The Intro' and 'Commercial Break' (aka 'The Outro') opened and closed the gigs. "Damon would look like a panda afterwards," Graham recalls, "and he used to be sick onstage. We used to drink so much. I'd have a bottle of wine under the chair my amp was sat on, and I'd swig my way through that." Demoed with John Smith at Matrix in January 1992, 'The Intro' was chosen specifically to annoy Dave Balfe, who hated it and was baffled by Blur's bloody-mindedness. The Matrix demo would later be judged by Stephen Street to be good enough to go on 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' as it was. Balfe still hates it. Damon's jaunty, faintly sickly piano begins this instrumental, which follows on from 'Chemical World'. Only a curlicue of guitar feedback portends the violence to come. Graham then enters with a lurching, quasi-ska rhythm guitar pattern, accompanied by grinding bass and thrashing drums. The song speeds up as though its driver was stamping emotionally on brakes that had been cynically pre-cut. Moving away from Kurt Weill territory into outright punk insanity, the tune then erupts in what sounds like a demented bass solo but is, in fact, Graham de-tuning the bottom string of his guitar with his left hand as his right hand keeps playing. The performance's effect is that of Postman Pat incidental music gone horribly out of control.

Maggie May
(on 'Ruby Trax", released October 1992, also b-side of 'Chemical World' 7-inch)

Recorded in June 1992 for the three-CD charity compilation LP 'Ruby Trax' (offered to NME readers), 'Maggie May' was Blur's first cover. They had just returned from their American tour and were in no mood to treat Rod Stewart's 1971 single with any sensitivity or decorum. Alex refused to play on the session, claiming to hate Rod Stewart, and the bass was done on a keyboard. Produced by Steve Lovell at Matrix, this was - incredibly - mooted by Food at one stage as a possible Blur single.

Colin Zeal
(on 'Modern Life Is Rubbish')

This was written in America about an imaginary little man's workaday life in England. Playing tapes of The Kink's golden period ('65-'71), Damon filtered a Ray Davies-like eye for acerbic detail ("he's an affable man with a carotene tan") into this fidgety tune, which borrows the vocal melody of Teardrop Explodes' 'Sleeping Gas'. Graham, thwarted from drenching the song in Sonic Youth guitar, was allowed to play a Black & Decker drill quietly at the end. "The trick with Graham," says Damon, "is to give him the illusion that he's making a racket." The gaps before each "...and then he..." were suggested by Stephen Street. And for one song only, Dave Rowntree tuned his tom toms to actual notes rather than just to a generally good sound. Andy Partridge was keen on this technique. "Never again," says Dave.