"End of a Century" is a song by English

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

band Blur. Released in November 1994, it was the last single to be released from their third album, ''

Parklife ''Parklife'' is the third studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 25 April 1994 on Food Records. After disappointing sales for their previous album '' Modern Life Is Rubbish'' (1993), ''Parklife'' returned Blur to prominence i ...

'' (1994). "End of a Century" reached number 19 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, considered a disappointment by

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Food Records Food Records was a British rock record label set up in 1984 by David Balfe (formally of Zoo Records), who later took on Andy Ross as his partner. Originally formed as an independent record label with distribution going through Rough Trade D ...

. Albarn later stated that "End of a Century" may not have been the best choice for the album's fourth single, and that "

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" would have been a better alternative.

Lyrical content

Damon Albarn stated that the song is about "how couples get into staying in and staring at each other. Only instead of candle-light, it's the TV light." The opening line, "she said there's ants in the carpet", refers to an infestation of ants that Albarn and his then-girlfriend

Justine Frischmann Justine Elinor Frischmann (born 16 September 1969) is an English artist and retired musician. She was the lead singer of the Britpop band Elastica after forming Suede, before retiring from the music industry and pursuing a career as a painter ...

suffered in their then-home in Kensington. The lyrics seem to emphasise the then upcoming millennium change and the fact that people contemplate the future rather than take care of the present. Producer Stephen Street saw the song as "Damon getting the art of songwriting really sorted".

Music video

The video is a live performance recorded at Alexandra Palace. As with their later video to Tender, it uses the audio track of the live performance, rather than overdubbing the audio of the studio take.

Track listings

7-inch and cassette single # "End of a Century" ( Albarn, Coxon,

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

and Rowntree; Lyrics by Albarn) – 2:47 # "Red Necks" (Albarn, Coxon, James, Rowntree; Lyrics by Coxon) – 3:04 CD single # "End of a Century" (Albarn, Coxon, James, Rowntree; Lyrics by Albarn) – 2:47 # "Red Necks" (Albarn, Coxon, James, Rowntree; Lyrics by Coxon) – 3:04 # "Alex's Song" (James) – 2:42

Personnel

* Damon Albarn – lead vocals, organ *

Graham Coxon Graham Leslie Coxon (born 12 March 1969) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter who came to prominence as a founding member of the rock band Blur. As the group's lead guitarist and secondary vocalist, Cox ...

– acoustic and electric guitars, clarinet, backing vocals * Alex James – bass guitar * Dave Rowntree – drums

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1994 singles 1994 songs Blur (band) songs Food Records singles Wikipedia requested audio of songs Song recordings produced by Stephen Street Songs written by Alex James (musician) Songs written by Damon Albarn Songs written by Dave Rowntree Songs written by Graham Coxon