Day After Day #218: Parklife

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Parklife (1994)

One of the more notable music feuds of the '90s was Oasis vs. Blur, but for those of us living in the U.S., it was more of a distant amusement. Both bands got radio and MTV play here, but they were nowhere near as popular on this side of the pond as they were at home in the U.K. 

Still, Oasis seemed to get more airtime over here, especially songs like "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova." Blur's biggest song on the U.S. charts was "Song 2." But if you dig into their respective catalogs, I think Blur was the more interesting band.

Blur had a lot of songs I enjoyed, but today I'm going to feature the title track of their 1994 album Parklife. It's a sardonic look at British life and it features actor Phil Daniels doing the spoken word sections of the song in a Cockney accent. Daniels was known for starring in the movie version of the Who's Quadrophenia, which is interesting because "Parklife" reminds me of a song on the Quadrophenia album, "Bell Boy." That song also features a Cockney accent, courtesy of Keith Moon.

The video for "Parklife" features Daniels and Blur singer Damon Albarn as door-to-door salesmen, with Daniels detailing the everyday characters in his world. Albarn originally tried to do the voice but couldn't get into character; guitarist Graham Coxon suggested Daniels because they were fans of Quadrophenia.

"Confidence is a preference for the habitual voyeur/Of what is known as/(Parklife)/And morning soup can be avoided/If you take a route straight through what is known as/(Parklife)/John's got brewer's droop/He gets intimidated by the dirty pigeons/They love a bit of him/(Parklife)/Who's that gut lord marching/You should cut down on your pork life mate/Get some exercise."

Blur's excellent guitarist Coxon provides the rollicking riff that propels the song through its jaunty routine. Meanwhile the chorus drives home the everyman nature of the song: "All the people/So many people/And they all go hand-in-hand/Hand-in-hand through their parklike/Know what I mean?"

Albarn wrote the song based on the people-watching he used to do at Hyde Park in London near where he was living.

"I get up when I want/Except on Wednesdays/When I get rudely awakened by the dustmen/(Parklife)/I put my trousers on, have a cup of tea/And I think about leaving the house/(Parklife)/I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the sparrows too/It gives me a sense of enormous well-being/(Parklife)/And then I'm happy for the rest of the day/Safe in the knowledge there will always be/A bit of my heart devoted to it."

There's definitely a similar vibe to the Anglocentric music the Kinks were making in the '60s and early '70s. The song didn't register in the U.S., but it went to #10 on the U.K. Singles chart and was often played at soccer, I mean football, games in the U.K. It's now played before home matches of Chelsea F.C., which is the team supported by both Daniels and Albarn.

The Britpop wars were in full effect in the mid-'90s and at the 1996 Brit Awards, the Gallagher brothers poked fun at Blur by singing a drunken version of "Parklife"; Liam changed the lyrics to "Shite-life" and Noel yelled out "Marmite!" Of course, nowadays Blur is still making music and the Gallaghers hate each other more than anyone else. Parklife!