Clint Eastwood (song)
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| “Clint Eastwood” | |||||
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| Single by Gorillaz featuring Del tha Funkee Homosapien from the album Gorillaz |
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| Released | March 5, 2001 (UK) August 7, 2001 (United States) |
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| Format | CD, 12", MC | ||||
| Recorded | 2000 | ||||
| Genre | Electronic Alternative hip-hop Rock |
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| Length | 5:55 | ||||
| Label | Parlophone | ||||
| Producer | Gorillaz, Dan the Automator | ||||
| Certification | Gold (Australia)[1] Gold (BPI) |
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| Gorillaz singles chronology | |||||
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"Clint Eastwood" is Gorillaz' debut single, taken from their self-titled album Gorillaz, and released in March 2001. It peaked at the #4 in the UK and #57 in the US.
The song is a mix of electronic, Hip hop and rock with sample from the classic western film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (which stars Clint Eastwood, who is not mentioned in the song itself). The verses are rapped by Del tha Funkee Homosapien, portrayed as a blue phantom in the video, while the chorus is sung by 2D.
In live performances alternate lyrics are used for the rapping sections of the song, and are sung by Phi Life Cypher rather than Del.
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[edit] Charts
| Chart (2002) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart[2] | 17 |
| Austrian Top 75 Singles Chart[3] | 2 |
| Bulgarian Top 40 Singles Chart[3] | 3 |
| Canadian Hot 100 (Billboard)[3] | 2 |
| Dutch Top 40[3] | 2 |
| Eurochart Hot 100 | 4 |
| Finnish Singles Chart[3] | 6 |
| German Singles Chart[3] | 2 |
| Italian Singles Chart[4] | 4 |
| Latvian Singles Chart[5] | 3 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart[3] | 2 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart[3] | 1 |
| Polish National Top 50[6] | 4 |
| Portuguese Top 50 Singles Chart[3] | 8 |
| Romanian Singles Chart | 3 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 7 |
| Swiss Top 100 Singles Chart[3] | 3 |
| Turkish Top 20 Chart[7] | 9 |
| UK Singles Chart[3] | 4 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 57 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play | 6 |
[edit] Music video
The animated music video was directed by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland. It starts with the Gorillaz logo in red against a black screen, and the following quote from the 1978 film Dawn of the Dead: "Every dead body that is not exterminated, gets up and kills. The people it kills, get up and kill" in Japanese then in English. This phrase was deemed offensive in some countries and a censored version was produced that omits this intro.
The video and song name is a reference to the famous western starring actor Clint Eastwood, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The yell from the film's theme song can be heard at the beginning of the video. Closeups of the bandmember's faces are featured throughout the video, something that is used often in spaghetti westerns. Midway through the film, Del summons a graveyard from the ground, which is a reference to the ending of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The song's famous chorus, "I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad. I got sunshine in a bag", is a reference to the money in the bag Clint Eastwood's character rides off with at the end of the film.
The band is seen playing their music against a completely white backdrop. Russel's cap then begins to mysteriously rise on its own, and the ghost of Del appears to be emerging from under it. He begins to rap, leaving the other band members dumbfounded, and the backdrop at this point is that of a cemetery. Del then begins to summon enormous tombstones to burst out of the ground, as a heavy shower of rain and thunderstorm begins. Shortly afterwards, zombie gorilla hands rise up from the ground. Murdoc is grabbed by the crotch and pulled to the ground (a reference to the Peter Jackson zombie film Braindead.) Seconds later, the zombie gorillas themselves rise up. Murdoc immediately flees at the sight of them, with a number of them pursuing after him. He then turns and glares at them out of frustration at his inability to escape, and the zombie apes engage in a bizarre dance routine before Murdoc is finally struck by lightning (this dance routine is similar to the choreography on Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video). Noodle is then shown joyfully skipping along, almost as if she is completely unaware of her surroundings, and in her playful skipping, she delivers a hard kick to one of the zombie gorillas in the face. Immediately afterwards, Del is then sucked back into Russel's head as the gorillas all disintegrate, and the band members are left standing in the cemetery, now bright with sunlight. The video then concludes with a split screen showing each of the four band members and their names.
The video for Clint Eastwood won an award at the Rushes Soho Short Film Festival Awards in 2001, defeating entries by Blur, Fatboy Slim, Radiohead, and Robbie Williams.[8]
[edit] Clint Eastwood
As of 2001, Hewlett and Albarn indicated that they had not received any feedback from the real Eastwood over the song.[9] Albarn expressed a desire to send the actor some of the band's merchandise as a mark of respect, and said, "I'm sure Clint Eastwood would like [the song]. He's an intelligent man."[9]
[edit] Popular Culture
- In the video, 2D wears a shirt that appears to say "T virus," referencing the T-virus responsible for creating the zombies in the Resident Evil video games and movies.
- The backbeat for the song appears on the Arrested Development episode "Altar Egos" from season one.
- The song was used in episodes of Smallville, The Andy Milonakis Show, Angel, and Walker Texas Ranger.
- Luke Ski recorded a parody of this song called "Jon Archer", about the science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise (the parody's title references the series' lead character and captain of the titular starship).
[edit] References
- ^ ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2001 Singles. Australian Recording Industry Association (2001). Retrieved on 2007-06-20.
- ^ [1].
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Nelly Furtado ft. Missy Elliott - Do It". aCharts.us.
- ^ Italian Single Chart Fimi.it
- ^ Latvia Singles Chart
- ^ Polish National Top 50
- ^ Turkish Airplay Chart
- ^ "Gorillaz win film award, BBC News, published August 2, 2001, accessed June 1, 2008.
- ^ a b Davis, Darren. "Gorillaz Go Ape On 'Clint Eastwood'", Yahoo! Music, published July 13, 2001, accessed June 1, 2008.
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