"Ulysses" is a song by Scottish

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. F ...

. It was released as the lead single from their third studio album, '' Tonight: Franz Ferdinand'' (2009), on 2 December 2008 in the United States and 18 January 2009 in the United Kingdom. "Ulysses" peaked at number 20 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 ...

Release

The song "Ulysses" was chosen to be the first single and was in physical format on 19 January 2009. It was debuted live on 5 August 2007 at the "Hey You Get Off My Pavement" festival in Glasgow and has been played at every full set gig since. The song received first airplay at BBC Radio 1 on 17 November 2008, and subsequently became available to download from the Canadian and US

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

music stores on 2 December 2008. In the United States, the song reached #20 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, the band's fifth single to appear on that chart. The song also entered the

at a peak position of #20 on 25 January 2009. The video, directed by Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, was premiered on 9 January 2009. The cover art for the single is part of a series of photographs the band are taking on their travels, recreating

crime scene A crime scene is any location that may be associated with a committed crime. Crime scenes contain physical evidence that is pertinent to a criminal investigation. This evidence is collected by crime scene investigators (CSI) and law enforcement ...

s; this one features

Alex Kapranos Alexander Paul Kapranos Huntley (born 20 March 1972) is a Scottish musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and author. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand. He has also been a part of the ...

face-down in the street, presumably dead, while his bandmates look on. The Ulysses cover shot was taken in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

by Guy Eppel.

Reception

"Ulysses" featured on Triple J's Hottest 100 Countdown in 2008, polling 82nd. The track was also featured on the second season of Skins's promo advert. Ulysses is the Roman name for the Greek mythological hero

Odysseus Odysseus ( ; grc-gre, Ὀδυσσεύς, Ὀδυσεύς, OdysseúsOdyseús, ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; lat, UlyssesUlixes), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the ''Odyssey''. Odysse ...

, as well as the title for the

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

of the same name by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

. The song has been used for the television commercial of Toyota Mark X ZiO in Japan since February 2009.,Sony Music Shop
as well as the video game '' Colin McRae: Dirt 2''.

Track listing

*CD RUG314CD #"Ulysses" - 3:13 #"New Kind of Thrill" - 4:28 #"Ulysses" (Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation) - 6:13 *7" RUG314 #"Ulysses" - 3:13 #"Anyone in Love" - 2:44 *7" RUG314X #"Ulysses" - 3:13 #"You Never Go Out Anymore" - 2:05 *AUS / German CD 88697459512 #"Ulysses" - 3:14 #"New Kind Of Thrill" - 4:29 #"Anyone In Love" - 2:45 #"You Never Go Out Anymore" - 2:06 #"Ulysses" (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation) - 6:13 *12" RUG314T #"Ulysses" (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation) - 6:13 #"Feeling Kind Of Anxious" - 6:33 #"Ulysses" (Disco Bloodbath Effect) - 8:06 #"Ulysses" (Mickey Moonlight Remix) - 3:49 *Download RUG314D11 #"Ulysses" (Zomby 92 Remix) - 2:21 #"Ulysses" (Zomby 8 Bit Rremix) - 3:00

Personnel

* Artwork By - Franz Ferdinand & Matthew Cooper * Engineer - Alexis Smith, Paul Savage * Mastered By - Jason Mitchell, John Dent * Photography - Guy Eppel * Recorded By, Producer - Dan Carey, Franz Ferdinand * Songwriter - Franz Ferdinand * Mastered at Loud Mastering.

Chart performance

"Ulysses" debuted on the ''Billboard''

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart at #20. On the

, the song debuted at number 20.

Weekly charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulysses (Song) 2009 singles Franz Ferdinand (band) songs Songs written by Alex Kapranos Songs written by Nick McCarthy Domino Recording Company singles 2008 songs Songs written by Bob Hardy (bassist) Songs written by Paul Thomson