Bill Murray

Bill Murray

"As for Gorillaz (next record), Albarn revealed that he is planning to use The Bees as the house band for the new set of songs..."
- 2004 NME article called "Damon's Dash"

Ok, before I begin this article I would you all to watch this clip of Damon Albarn recording "Bill Murray" with The Bees here

Have you watched it? Good, because I am going to be referring back to it a lot in this article.

The Bees were once a big deal in the early 2000's indie rock scene with their genre splicing style and massively talented unit of many different musicians. Damon Albarn was among one of their huge fans, and at one point, considered having The Bees play the role of the Gorillaz band on their second album leaving Damon only to be the chief songwriter, vocalist and producer. This plan however fell through as The Bees were on a busy schedule of their own, but not wanting to pass up the offer of working with one of their heroes, they came in to record one track. This track was "Bill Murray", a name which Jamie Hewlett gave the track after listening to it once in an off hand manner with "no relation" to the actual track itself.

The track was obviously recorded in the very early stages of recording, back when the album was called "Reject False Icons" as sonically it's more of an extension on the first album's sound and not that of the new sound Damon would develop during recording. The Bees' influence can be prominently felt on this track with the song's funk fused, ska infected and Specials influenced groove. However if you see how the band originally recorded it, the track we ended up getting was much different than what was originally done in 13 Studios.

The track was birthed out of a jam between Damon and The Bees. The Bees, being huge fans of the first album, were unsure how to re-create the band's strange and off putting experimental sound. However, Damon Albarn told them he wasn't looking for "weird", and suggested the band vamp on the chords A and F#min. Damon played orchestrator to The Bees telling instruments when to play and when not to play and in post-production he would remove instruments at will, making the original jam's prominent guitar and synth solo no more than mere cameos. The stars of the final product we got was the main synthesizer melodies, the brass section and the tight groove provided by the bass guitar and drums. While it may seem like Damon was forcing The Bees to play under his strict guidelines, what Damon did with the jam session is brilliant and reminds me of the way Brian Eno recorded artsy and punky (yet funky) band, Talking Heads on their magnum opus, "Remain In Light". Before the vocals finally kick in, the bass guitar gets a spotlight while the brass respond to th spaces left underneath the bass groove (as per Damon's instructions).

While the vocals were originally supposed to be a harmony between the members of The Bees and Damon as 2D, Damon ended up only utilizing an army of his own voices to get a psychedelic Beach Boys type effect on the vocal (see "Demon Days" entry for more details about this method). His repeated vocal state, "Too many days to get lost. Many many people I've known, got lost". His lyric is about those who he has once known, the people who he used to be close with who he no longer talks to, the people who have "gotten lost" in his mind. If he was talking about anyone directly, I would guess it was Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, whose relationship with Damon ended very messily causing Damon to avoid anything to do with Blur for slightly more than half a decade. However, the lyrics are vague enough to be about anybody, so it could just be Damon being 2D, the sad depressed, messed up kid who fronts the band against his will. After the first time he says this chant, the brass play mournful line as if signifying the loss of a former loved one, but then the groove comes back and the song becomes a fun skanky jaunt again with 2D now singing his line over the groove. A fun song, with a bittersweet message.

"Bill Murray" most likely never made it on to the final record because it was recorded before the album fully formed into the social commentary art piece we have now, meaning that it no longer fit in context with the album's thematic ideas. Despite this, "Bill Murray" seems to be a favorite of Damon and Jamie's, making it a b-side to "Feel Good Inc.", the band's biggest single, as well as including the footage of them making the track with The Bees in their documentary, "Bananaz". "Bill Murray" is an awesome track in all of its instrumental complexity and vocal simplicity.