"(Del The Ghost Rapper) turned to me, the look on his face I'll never forget, and then he sort of looked down, and just said, "I gotta go. I knew that sooner or later (The Grim Reaper) would come. Y'know, you can't hide from him forever". Del had taken refuge inside me since he died in the drive-by shooting. But it was now time for him to go to his proper resting place. He gave me one last hug and then that was it... they were both gone."
- Russel Hobbs
A New Orleans funeral is different from the funerals held by the rest of the world. In New Orleans, the dead are carried in a parade filled with jazz musicians that goes all around the town. People come out and join the band, and some even become dancers in the "second line" of these parades. A New Orleans funeral is a party for the dead and a celebration of their life.
"Mr Softy's Balloon Race" is a track recorded in the early stages of "Demon Days". At this point the album was called "Reject False Icons" and used ideas from the scrapped Gorillaz movie "Celebrity Harvest". This track of course, didn't make it past the demo stages and was eventually snuck into Russel's room on the band's then website, Kong Studios.
The song is a 4 track recording with a percussive drum machine loop and a primitive synthesizer riff as the song's main beat. As the song develops more synth overdubs are added giving the song a similar feel to Joy Division's final confession, "Atmosphere". Damon's lyrics seem to convey a sense of confusion, not knowing where to go ("where do we go from here? Where do we go?"). The chorus refers to a "last one" not being there anymore, so it's obvious he's mourning someone. Yet despite the song's melancholic overtones, the song feels like a party. The driving percussion, the carnival type synths, an army of Damon vocals which chant and holler to the end of the song, the song even stops and starts again which is a classic trick for an upbeat song to pull. So what could it be about? And why is this song, with it's dips into art rock, psychedelica, and very un-hip hop type electronics, spinning on Russel's turntable?
One of the storylines of the "Celebrity Harvest" movie involved Del going evil and eventually being taken away by The Grim Reaper. This song is about Del's death, and is done in the style of a traditional New Orleans style funeral. Russell spun this on his turntable in place of Gorillaz single "Rock The House", which featured the former Gorillaz member, departed ghost rapper Del. Del being such a huge part of the Gorillaz early sound, Damon made a song to send him off in the happiest way possible. It's possible this didn't make it on to "Demon Days" for being too unconventional and lo fi, but if developed more it could have fit right in as Damon would further explore this style on future Gorillaz tracks such as "On Melancholy Hill" and "Ticker Tape" (the latter also being about a funeral parade). "Mr Softy's Balloon Race" is a brilliant work that was at least deserving of being a b-side, if not an album piece.
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