The band and I were already pretty sick of that song, but he invigorated it and we were interested again – although personally, it's still not one of my favourites. So we decided Phil should have a go at Parklife instead. Phil Daniels was first approached to recite a poem over a song called The Debt Collector, but in the end it became an instrumental because Damon couldn't come up with a poem he liked. In fact, a lot of football teams play it. I knew Parklife would connect with people, and I still often hear it played at Loftus Road. It was the same with Blur: they could put their hands to anything, and it would still sound like Blur.Įach song had its own sound and direction: End of a Century is completely different from Girls & Boys, and different again from Bank Holiday. I felt the way I had when I produced the Smiths: that as long as Morrissey was singing on it, it would be the Smiths. The style of Girls & Boys was unlike anything Blur had done before, but I thought it would be Top 5 – it was so downright basic. The album was made piecemeal: we did a few songs, then they were on the road again, then back in the studio. We went into the studio to do Parklife soon after.ĭamon was directing his attention to a very English kind of inspiration: great records made by the Kinks, and also imaginary characters like Tracy Jacks. Modern Life hadn't been a commercial success, but the band were still drawing a big touring crowd so the fear of being dropped had gone. B7 park-life E Esus4 E Esus4 E Verse 2 same as intro see Additional Lyrics.

Oasis were accused of being Chas'n'Dave, but we weren't far away ourselves. Tabbed by PhsycoHoseBeast / Artist: Blur Track: Parklife Album: Parklife. I play a bit of the German national anthem on saxophone in the 'vorsprung durch technik' line. At the line 'There was a piece of my heart', Phil said, 'Should I drop the 'h'? If I pronounce it, it'll sound more adorable.' We didn't want to use a forced mockney accent, so he pronounced the 'h'. He thought it would be better to get in a celebrity, so I suggested the actor Phil Daniels because we were big fans from Quadrophenia. It epitomises what Blur were about – having fun and doing exactly what you want to do.īut Damon wasn't comfortable doing the verses – he just couldn't get into character. The Parklife single wasn't about the working class, it was about the park class: dustbin men, pigeons, joggers – things we saw every day on the way to the studio. A lot of people thought it was a celebration of Englishness, but it was actually very sarcastic.

Parklife lyric