Both cars then pull away at speed to reveal 'Parklife' written on the tarmac. The driver, played by Alex James, grimaces back at him. In the video, the Granada pulls up next to an Audi Cabriolet convertible and Daniels says "It's got nothing to do with your ' Vorsprung durch Technik' yer know".
The car used by Daniels and Albarn is a bronze-coloured Ford Granada Coupe Mk1. At one point, Albarn is impressed to see a man ( Graham Coxon) carrying a placard reading " Modern Life Is Rubbish", the title of Blur's previous album on the reverse is written " End of a Century", the title of their subsequent single from Parklife. Other band members appear as various characters from the song, including Dave Rowntree and Alex James as a couple, with the latter in drag. The song's music video (directed by Pedro Romhanyi) filmed next to The Pilot pub on the Greenwich Peninsula features Phil Daniels as a smarmy double glazing salesman (a homage to Tin Men), with Albarn as his assistant. The song played a part in Blur's supposed feud with fellow Britpop band Oasis at the 1996 Brit Awards when the Gallagher brothers, Liam and Noel, taunted Blur by singing a drunk rendition of "Parklife", mimicking Albarn's accent (with Liam changing the lyrics to "Shite-life" and Noel shouting " Marmite"), when the members of Oasis were collecting the "Best British Album" award, which both bands had been nominated for. Daniels also performed a rendition of the song at the band's headline slot at Glastonbury Festival 2009 and at the band's second Hyde Park concert in August 2012, and at the 2012 Brit Awards.Ī number of newspaper articles about the young middle classes' adoption of Estuary English appeared during the single's chart run, including one in The Sunday Times on the day the song entered the singles chart (although Daniels' accent is more obviously cockney). I was living on Kensington Church Street, and I used to come into the park at the other end, and I used to, you know, watch people, and pigeons.", at which moment Phil Daniels appears onstage. According to Damon Albarn when introducing the song during their July 2009 Hyde Park performance, "I came up with the idea for this song in this park. ĭespite what is commonly believed, the song does not refer to Castle Park in Colchester, the town where the band hail from.
Daniels opted for a cut of the royalties rather than being paid up front. The recording in the studio took about forty minutes. Daniels was unfamiliar with the band, but after talking to Albarn, he accepted the job. Daniels reinvigorated the band, who had grown tired of working on the track. Daniels was asked to sing lead vocals on "Parklife" instead. ĭaniels had been approached to recite a poem for "The Debt Collector", but Albarn could not find a poem he liked and made the song into an instrumental. He explained the song "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 " and that it was about "having fun and doing exactly what you want to do". ( January 2014) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Īccording to Coxon the song was sarcastic, rather than a celebration of Englishness. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. This section possibly contains original research. The song is one of the defining tracks of Britpop, and features on the 2003 compilation album Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop. The Massed Bands of the Household Division performed "Parklife" at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony.
The song won British Single of the Year and British Video of the Year at the 1995 Brit Awards and was also performed at the 2012 Brit Awards. The choruses are sung by lead singer Damon Albarn. The song contains elements of spoken word in the verses, narrated by actor Phil Daniels, who also appears in the song's music video. When released as the album's third single in August 1994, it reached No. " Parklife" is the title track from English rock band Blur's third studio album, Parklife (1994). JSTOR ( July 2011) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.
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