Latin Simone

Latin Simone (English Demo)
Latin Simone (Que Pasa Contigo)
Latin Simone (2D & Ibrahim Ferrer Duet)
Latin Simone (Live 2001)
Latin Simone (Demon Days Live Tour 2005)

"Latin Simone" is the first of many Gorillaz songs to lack a definitive version. It's original release as a b-side on the "Tomorrow Comes Today" EP was a Damon Albarn sung track with instrumentation that took influence from trip hop, reggae and of course, Cuban music. The album version expands on the track's Cuban direction by featuring Ibrahim Ferrer, of Cuba's very own Buena Vista Social Club, singing a new lead vocal in place of Damon's.

The track's instrumental features a Dan The Automator breakbeat layered on top of a drum sample from Keith Mansfield's "Incidental Backcloth No. 3." On top of this is a delicate piano line by Damon and a Junior Dan bass line which (as usual) fits perfectly with Dan and Damon's instrumentals. To compliment the track, Damon Albarn and Miho Hatori do choral type backing vocals bringing out the power in the words of the lead singer. Between the verses, Damon Albarn's melodica duets with Mike Smith's Bolero influenced trumpet. The two instruments feed off each other, giving the beat a bit more of a looser feel than the other trip hop tracks on this record.

 The original version featuring Damon's vocals takes more of a darker connotation. On most of the tracks on this record, Damon dances around the idea of 2D, the fictional band's singer, having issues with depression, addiction, anxiety and many other mental issues. However, on "Latin Simone", Damon lays it out very bluntly. He talks about killing himself, giving up in order "to survive" and even has 2D question himself, "what's the matter with me?" This is the track where 2D finally cracks and breaks down, facing his issues head on by talking about them openly with no gimmicks or metaphors.

The album version of the track acts as a response to the track's original incarnation. 2D looks to the guidance of someone older and wiser, someone who has been through a lot more than he has. This person is none other than the Cuban singer Ibrahim Ferrer. Ibrahim Ferrer (along with lyric-writing help from fellow Buena Vista Social Club member, Lazaro Villa) takes the track into a whole new direction. Ibrahim Ferrer talks to 2D in Spanish, telling him to focus on the good things. He helps 2D see that his life is wonderful and that killing himself is not the answer. As Ibrahim delivers his last few words of wisdom, Damon Albarn and Mike Smith go all out on their melodica and trumpet solos ending the track on a high note.

Ibrahim Ferrer never played "Latin Simone" live with the group, leaving the version played on the original Gorillaz Live tour in shambles. Since the original touring band (excluding dubby bassist Junior Dan) were mainly rock musicians, they weren't able to do a Cuban-reggae fusion song justice. This meant the track was mainly focused on samples of Mike Smith's trumpet (he was too busy playing keyboards in the group to play the trumpet live) and Ibrahim's vocals, which took away the loose element of the original and made it into a stiff run through that sounded like it was a chore. "Latin Simone" was thankfully dropped after the first couple shows of the tour (although I still wonder why they didn't just do the English version, that way Damon could have sung it). When Ibrahim Ferrer died in 2005, Gorillaz ended their landmark Demon Days Live shows that year by playing the song in tribute to him. Since the Demon Days Live band was huge and varied, the track was able to thrive taking on more of an organic Cuban style with the inclusion of Latin percussion by Darren Galea. No samples were used aside from a recording of Ibrahim's voice, giving Damon the ability to go all out on his melodica while Mike Smith held down Damon's piano line. As the band played, footage of Ibrahim Ferrer singing the track in 13 Studios was displayed on the screen. "Latin Simone" became one of the last vocals Ibrahim Ferrer ever recorded, ending off his singing career in an extraordinary and brilliant way.