"I mean look at (2D)... he looks like a trapped boy. I don't know maybe he's just a great actor, fucking doubt it though."
- Murdoc Niccals
"Hip Albatross", the second b-side to "19/2000", is a beautiful rock ballad done in a very unconventional way. The track's instrumental mainly consists of samples of zombie films such as "Dawn Of The Dead", the track's instrumentation and even the vocals on some occasions, take a back seat to the various sounds and dialogue used throughout the song. It opens with a quote, one used often during Gorillaz early days: "Every dead body that is not exterminated, becomes one of them. It gets up and kills. The people it kills get up and kill."
It's possible that the song resulted from a live take with Damon on vocals and electric guitar, Junior Dan on bass guitar and Jason Cox on percussion and then the samples were added on later (along with some spacey keyboards played by Damon). Jamie Hewlett pushed for there to be more songs about zombies on the album as it was a huge part of the storyline he created. So Damon made this song (along with album closer "M1 A1") to fill that gap.
Damon has one sentence which he repeats once before the song dissolves unto itself: "I was born a zombie, from mercury, I just sleep." He stretches this one sentence out into what essentially becomes two short verses. Damon sounds like he's in pain and anguish, the way he stretches out the "I" makes it sound like he's a zombie. But maybe, that's what he was going for. In truth, this may be one of Damon's best tries at getting into the character of 2D. 2D is scared and drug addled, his mind is a mess. His love of zombie films might be affecting him to the point where his mind is always playing clips of zombie films every waking moment, thus making him more scared and afraid. He relates to the zombies, tired and mindless, afraid and confused. Soon the song fades, another sample comes out to play while a mournful electric guitar plays a tune. The sample says: "Yeah yeah, I got an alternative! Let's get in that old whirlybird here, find us an island someplace, get in there, and spend what time we got left soaking up some sunshine." There's still hope for him to be happy and at peace, it just has to be away from Kong Studios, away from Murdoc, away from it all. Until then though, he's stuck here.
The track was used to open the band's documentary, "Bananaz", where it was paired with images of a graveyard that Damon and Jamie rode past in their car. These dark yet realistic images perfectly summed up the feelings conveyed in this song, making one wonder if they ever considered bringing this track to the stage. "Hip Albatross" wouldn't have fit in among the more energetic sets from the band's first tour, but it would have been right at home among the dark atmosphere of the "Demon Days" shows. It's possible that the track didn't make it on to the album because it was too predictable. If you take out all the samples, it sounds like a song Damon Albarn would have made with his old band Blur, (particularly the moving "1992" off of their magnum opus, "13"). Hip Albatross" is one of the most moving songs the band ever made, giving us a look into the inner monologue of our blue-haired boy which digs deep.
No comments:
Post a Comment