"It's about drugs,basically.Yeah,Beatles and there's some Krautrock in there, but the harmonies are quite Blur-it'e the only sont in the album with harmones really.When we started the album we decided we weren't going to touch harmonies,strings or brass, but we did let the harmonies come in here"

Song 2

"Nah,it was never meant to be the second song on the album. It was always called Song 2 and the way it has what is virtually a working title is typical of the mood of the record-quite a relaxed approach.Hmm,it is a bit grunge,isn't it?It's a drinking song really,despite the fact most of the band dont really drink these days"

Country Sad Ballad Man

"These are definitely far more automatic lyrics on this album.This is the one that's closest to sitting down and singing without thinking about it.Yeah,it sort of concerns PJ Proby-the image of him in his motor-home in Northamptonshire.I read about him in that situation about 8 or 9 yeard ago when he's blown everything he'd ever made.I do find it quite strange that he ends up releasing his comeback album when we release our album.Obviously,I didn't have a clue that was going to happen when I wrote this song.Isn't that odd?So,PJ Proby inspired the song,but it's mostly about me."

MOR

"Quite self explanatory-fall into fashion,fall out again....It's about us,about everyone...about the music industry.It's an optimistic song,cos we're always at our best when we're out of fashion.So,this is sort of about us being oblivious to fashion,coming back and knowing we're doing something very good indeed.Musically there's a bit Roxy there.The backing vocals make it sound like the kind of call-and-responce vocal style I always loved with them"

On Your Own

"This kind of set the tone for the album.It was one of te first demos I did for this album and I was just far more aggressive in the way I put it down on tape.I was far more uncompromising in using weirder sounds,and it wasn't about anyone in particular,it was more of a personal statement.It's a bit Dylan-y ,a bit of a Happy Monday groove and the guitar riff's quite typically Blur"

Theme From Retro

"A bit of The Specials in there.The speech sample is us going into a club in America.Yea,we taped that.This guy on the door talking about us as we went in..."

You're so great

Graham:"It's me filling in some time on an afternoon.I wrote that song quite quickly and I'd never really written a song before .No,I didn't have J Mascis in the mind.It was more to do with listening to 'sister lovers' by Big Star and those cute little songs in there.How it's recorded and the way it sounds is more to do with chronic shyness.Just trying to cover up my voice and fuck it up,really.I suppose it'a about an alcoholic state of mind and a caffeine-ic state of mind.It could be dedicated to anything-could be a bottle of Scotch,could be my mum,could be a radiator."

The Death Of A Party

"That's the oldest song on the album-about 5 years old.We did it late on in the recordings,because we'd actually forgotten it existed until our fan club asked for a flexi-single for an issue of our fanzine.zthen someone at the record company brought out this set of demos I'd done before 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' and this was one song of those.It's funny,really,that you can have things that are really old and you've gone through a complete metamorphosis and still be able to relate and use it in a totally new way.It's about the paranoia of sex,the fear of AIDS."

Chinese Bombs

"I wrote that after watching a load of Bruce Lee films-the lyrics are pretty much taken straight fromthe dialogue.It's a bit of a grunge take on sth like'Advert'."

I'm Just A Killer For Your Love

"This was the last song we did on the album-I wrote it just as we were finishing recording.It's a Sly And The Family Stone meets Black Sabbath.The lyrics are quite heavy metal-a little bit demonic."

Look Inside America

"That's exactly what it seems-about our initial experience of going to America.Yes,it is a bit wistful-we hated it at the time,but it all seems a bit daft now.Musically there's some Ray Davies there."

Strange News From Another Star

"that's about Iceland-there's a recording of Icelandic radio at the start of the song.Actually,I heard the Shipping Forecast in Icelandic the other day.Very strange-'Doger,finorrk,rinnerek,German Bight...'.The song is about Iceland,just the majesty of the place.The death star mentioned is the depression I was suffering prior to arriving in Iceland."

Movin'On

"Hmm,quite heavy metal.No,I never listened to metal as a youth,but I'm trying to make up for it now.And the song is indeed about movig on.Us movin'on."

Essex Dogs

"Yeah,it is definitely autobiographical.It's probably the truest representation I've written of the place where I was brought up.JG Ballard?Oh very much so.His Vermillion Sands was definitely an influence -I remeber reading that when I was quite young and being quite overtaken by it.Essex has always seemed like that to me and I wrote a science fiction story about it when I was in school,about this huge dome being built over the whole of Essex and life going on underneath.It's weird cos I've written about Essex a lot in music hall sort of way,but 'Essex Dogs' is the first time I've got close to how I really feel about the place.The reference to the Army is very much factual-I never got beaten up by squaddies but I did get beaten up by people who were gonna become squaddies.Proto squaddies.There were definitely pubs in Colchester you would never contemplate going into."