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Blur - On Your Own

Music Video | USA | 1997
ArtistBlur
SongOn Your Own
AlbumBlur
DirectorSophie Muller
IntroNo
OutroNo
Sound MixStereo
Technical Specificationscolour - format unknown
Release date

Wiki

Synopsis

Blur perform in and around a stark industrial wasteland in Barcelona, surrounded by graffiti, rubble, and discarded objects. Damon Albarn takes center stage in a floppy hat, delivering the song with exaggerated, loose-limbed energy while Graham Coxon, Alex James, and Dave Rowntree appear in separate corners of the site, each absorbed in an odd activity. The disconnected images, abrupt cuts, and playful physicality create a deliberately chaotic atmosphere that matches the song's restless, surreal mood rather than presenting a conventional narrative.

Factoids & Trivia

  • The video was filmed in Barcelona near the Besos Water Tower, an industrial location that later became associated with the city's redeveloped waterfront.
  • It has no conventional storyline. Dave Rowntree later explained that the video was not meant to connect its images to the lyrics.
  • Rowntree's keyboard-playing sequence prompted fan questions because it appears unrelated to the song. He said the keyboard was simply a prop to give him something to do instead of waving awkwardly at the camera.
  • Damon Albarn's floppy Kangol-style hat and exaggerated dancing became some of the video's most recognizable visual details.
  • The video's rough industrial setting reflects Blur's shift away from the polished, distinctly British pop presentation of their earlier Britpop period.
  • "On Your Own" was released in 1997 as the third single from Blur's self-titled album and reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart.
  • Albarn later described the song as one of the earliest "Gorillaz tunes," linking its beat-driven, electronically colored sound to ideas he would develop with Gorillaz.

Lyrics

Holy man tiptoed his way across the Ganges
The sound of magic music in his ears
Videoed by a bus load of tourists
Shiny shellsuits on, and drinking lemonade
Now, I've got a funny feeling which I bought mail order
From a man in a tee-pee in California
He said he once was that great game show performer
Then he blew all his money away, blew it all away
So take me home, don't leave me alone
I'm not that good, but I'm not that bad
No psycho killer, hooligan guerilla
I dream to riot, oh you should try it
I'll eat parole get gold card soul
...
© Blur - On Your Own. This is an excerpt, provided as citation under fair-use.
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