"Green Fields" is the third single by British
alternative
Alternative or alternate may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki''
* ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film
* ''The Alternative ...
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
the Good, the Bad & the Queen.
[Note that while frontman Damon Albarn has claimed that the band is officially unnamed, and that "The Good, The Bad & The Queen" was merely the name of band's first album, this single clearly credits the artist as "The Good, The Bad & The Queen" on the single's front cover, spine and on the disc itself.] "Green Fields" is also the eleventh track on the group's 2007 debut
album ''
The Good, the Bad & the Queen.''
The song was released on 2 April 2007 as the band's third
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
in the
United Kingdom.
The single debuted—and peaked—at #51 in the
UK Singles Chart on 8 April, substantially lower than "
Kingdom of Doom" which had reached the Top 20 upon release in January.
In the album's review for ''
NME'', Hamish MacBain called the song "the best thing Damon's ever written."
Song background
Damon Albarn wrote the original version of the song following a night out with
Blur bassist
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...
Alex James and
Marianne Faithfull. That demo was recorded in a studio on Goldhawk Road, Hammersmith and Albarn gave the tape to Faithfull. It was later recorded by Faithfull with different lyrics in the verses and released on her 2005 album ''
Before the Poison
''Before the Poison'' is the 17th album by British singer Marianne Faithfull, recorded in 2003 and released in 2004.
Overview
The album has a dark and fatalistic mood, which Faithfull attributes partially to the post- 9/11 world.
Faithfull ...
'' as "Last Song."
Alexis Petridis of
The Guardian commented that as the album comes to a close "we find Damon Albarn reflecting on the passing of time." The reviewer explicitly described this song's lyrical beginning "years ago, somewhere on the Goldhawk Road" as more than a "reference to the west London thoroughfare whose traffic noise appears on the 1995 Blur album ''
The Great Escape''" (this London thoroughfare is the noise at the start of the song "
Ernold Same
''The Great Escape'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Blur. It was released on 11 September 1995 on Food and Virgin Records. The album reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and charted in the top 10 in more than ten count ...
" from that album). Petridis remarks that Albarn "suggests that "years ago" means the height of
Britpop," especially when Albarn sings "how the world has changed."
The song makes reference to a "
war" and a "
tidal wave
Tidal wave may refer to:
Seas and oceans
* A tidal bore, which is a large movement of water formed by the funnelling of the incoming tide into a river or narrow bay
* A storm surge, or tidal surge, which can cause waves that breach flood defence ...
"; referencing the
War on Iraq
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
and the 2004
Boxing Day tsunami
An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...
.
The song and DRM
On the day the single was released,
Apple Inc. and
EMI announced a new deal to end that label's use of
digital rights management
Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. ...
. At the press conference, the band played a short set consisting of "
Herculean
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the Gr ...
" and "Nature Springs." The single for "Green Fields" became the first new release by the band to be issued without DRM. The album ''The Good, the Bad & the Queen'' was also the first album issued under the new plan. The remainder of EMI's online catalogue underwent upgrades to the same superior quality download rate (320
kbit/s) shortly thereafter.
Track listings
Chart positions
References
{{authority control
2006 songs
2007 singles
The Good, the Bad and the Queen songs
Song recordings produced by Danger Mouse (musician)
Parlophone singles
Songs written by Damon Albarn
Songs about London
Marianne Faithfull songs