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"To the End" | ||||
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Single by Blur | ||||
from the album Parklife | ||||
B-side |
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Released | 30 May 1994 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length |
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Label | Food | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
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Blur singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"To the End" on YouTube |
"To the End" is a song by English alternative rock band Blur. It appears on their third studio album, Parklife (1994), and was released as a single in May 1994 by Food Records. The song describes a couple unsuccessfully trying to overcome a bad patch in a relationship, and features full orchestral accompaniment with a choric refrain in French by Lætitia Sadier from Stereolab. The song was produced by Stephen Hague, unlike the rest of the Parklife album, which was produced by Stephen Street. [3] Blur have produced several different recordings of the song.
"To the End" was released on 30 May 1994 as the second single from Parklife . [4] It was not one of Blur's major hits, charting only at number 16 in the UK Singles Chart, [5] unlike the singles released before and after, which both reached the top 10.
Blur also recorded a version in which Albarn sings the lead vocal in French. This was released as the third track on the 12" and CD2 editions of the "Parklife" single. This version features a relatively straightforward French translation of the lyrics and has a slightly demo-ish sound.
In March 1995, Blur re-recorded "To the End" at Abbey Road Studios with French singer Françoise Hardy, with verses sung in French. [6] The recording mutated into a duet titled "To the End (La Comedie)". This recording was released as a single in France and included in the Brit Pop Box Set along with other Parklife-era singles. It was also released as a B-side to the single "Country House" and on French editions of the album The Great Escape .
Ian Gittins from Melody Maker commented, "It's essentially a Bond theme — the sleeve depicts a revolver, fitted with silencer, and a red rose — meeting Adam Faith as "Budgie", and thus all about sky-high dreams, bathos and underachievement." [7] Rupert Howe from NME wrote, "A musically perfect string-soaked ballad that dredges up all kinds of misty-eyed Motown memories, hooks them up with a touch of Anglo-French lyrical dalliance and might have pulled off a minor coup if it weren't for the fact that Damon never takes his tongue out of his cheek long enough to make the whole escapade entirely convincing." [8]
The promo video for "To the End" was directed by David Mould and shot in National Museum (Prague) and footage from the garden of Castle Libochovice in 1994. In keeping with the song's use of French, the video is a pastiche of the classic French New Wave film Last Year at Marienbad (1961). The four-minute video imitates the cinematography and editing style of the film, and replicates numerous scenes from it. Enigmatic subtitles (not from the film) appear. The band takes the place of the characters from the film: Damon Albarn plays "X" and Graham Coxon is "M", both of whom are involved in a love triangle with a mysterious woman (Amanda Doyle). The video was released on the VHS and DVD editions of Blur: The Best of .
All music was composed by Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James, and Dave Rowntree. All lyrics were written by Albarn.
Chart (1994) | Peak position |
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Australia (ARIA) [9] | 198 |
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100) [10] | 54 |
Scotland (OCC) [11] | 34 |
UK Singles (OCC) [12] | 16 |
Blur are an English rock band formed in London in 1988. The band consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bass guitarist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Their debut album, Leisure (1991), incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegaze. Following a stylistic change influenced by English guitar pop groups such as the Kinks, the Beatles and XTC, Blur released the albums Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995). As a result, the band helped to popularise the Britpop genre and achieved mass popularity in the UK, aided by a widely publicised chart battle with rival band Oasis in 1995 dubbed "The Battle of Britpop".
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