Thus, Nike aired a television advertisement in 1997 called Parklife. The song started to be played at football matches in the mid-1990s, later becoming a 'football anthem' and featuring on albums like The Best Footie Anthems in the World.Ever! and The Beautiful Game, the Official Album of Euro 1996. The characters stated Daniels bore a resemblance to Family Feud host Richard Dawson. The video was reviewed on a 1995 episode of Beavis and Butt-Head.

Both cars then pull away at speed to reveal 'Parklife' written on the tarmac. In one part of the video, the Granada pulls up next to an Audi Cabriolet convertible and Daniels says 'It's got nothing to do with your ' Vorsprung durch Technik' yer know' The driver, seemingly played by Alex James, grimaces back at him. The car used by Daniels and Albarn is a bronze-coloured Ford Granada Coupe Mk1. At one point, Albarn is impressed to see a man ( Graham Coxon) carrying a placard reading ' Modern Life Is Rubbish', the title of Blur's previous album on the reverse is written ' End of a Century', the title of their subsequent single from Parklife. Other band members appear as various characters from the song, including Dave Rowntree and Alex James as a couple, with the latter in drag. The song's music video (directed by Pedro Romhanyi) filmed next to The Pilot pub on the Greenwich Peninsula features Phil Daniels as a smarmy double glazing salesman (a homage to Tin Men), with Albarn as his assistant. Phil also performed a rendition of the song at the band's headline slot at Glastonbury Festival 2009 and at the band's second Hyde Park concert in August 2012, and at the 2012 Brit awards. I was living on Kensington Church Street, and I used to come into the park at the other end, and I used to, you know, watch people, and pigeons.', at which moment Phil Daniels appears onstage. According to Damon Albarn when introducing the song during their July 2009 Hyde Park performance, 'I came up with the idea for this song in this park. The song played a part in Blur's supposed feud with fellow Britpop band Oasis at the 1996 BRIT Awards when the Gallagher brothers, Liam and Noel, taunted Blur by singing a drunk rendition of 'Parklife' (with Liam changing the lyrics to 'Shite-life' and Noel shouting ' Marmite') when the members of Oasis were collecting the 'Best British Album' award, which both bands had been nominated for.ĭespite what is commonly believed, the song does not refer to Castle Park in Colchester, the town where the band hail from. (January 2014)Ī number of newspaper articles about the young middle classes' adoption of Estuary English appeared during the single's chart run, including one in The Sunday Times on the day the song entered the singles chart (although Daniels' accent is more obviously Cockney). Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. This section possibly contains original research.

The song is one of the defining tracks of Britpop, and features in the 2003 compilation album Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop. The song won Best British Single and Best Video at the 1995 BRIT Awards and was also performed at the 2012 BRIT Awards. The song has spoken verses, narrated by actor Phil Daniels, who also appears in the song's music video and the choruses are sung by frontman Damon Albarn. When released as the album's third single, 'Parklife' reached number 10 in the UK singles chart. ' Parklife' is the title track from Blur's 1994 album Parklife. 7' vinyl (jukebox only), 12' vinyl, cassette, 2 x CDīlur starring Phil Daniels singles chronology

Parklife songs