M.O.R.

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For other uses, see MOR (disambiguation).
"M.O.R."
File:Mor 7vinyl cover.jpg
Single by Blur
from the album Blur
B-side "Swallows in the Heatwave" (7")
"Swallows in the Heatwave", "Movin' On (William Orbit remix)", "Beetlebum (Moby's minimal house remix)" (CD)
Released 15 September 1997
Format 7" vinyl, cassette, CD
Recorded 1996
Genre Indie rock
Length 3:27 (album version)
Label Food, Virgin
Producer(s) Stephen Street
Blur singles chronology
"On Your Own"
(1997)		 "M.O.R."
(1997)		 "Tender"
(1999)
Music video
"M.O.R." on YouTube

"M.O.R." is a song by English rock band Blur, from their eponymous album Blur. "M.O.R." reached number 15 in the UK singles chart on its release as a single in 1997.

The song's chord progression was borrowed from David Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging" and "Fantastic Voyage". On the album Lodger Bowie and collaborator Brian Eno carried out a musical experiment in which multiple songs were written with the same chord progression, of which "Boys Keep Swinging" and "Fantastic Voyage" were the two that surfaced. M.O.R is both a continuation of, and tribute to that experiment, as its chorus also lifts the melody and call-and-response vocals from Boys Keep Swinging (Bowie and Eno both received credit for "M.O.R." after legal intervention).

"M.O.R." itself stands for "middle of the road", which appears in the lyrics.

Music video

The song's music video was directed by John Hardwick and is considered one of the most expensive videos the band ever made. It was shot in Sydney, Australia, and follows the misadventures of the band members (or rather, stuntmen in balaclavas pretending to be them) as they try to escape from the police. It was intended that the stuntmen wear masks of the band members (to make it appear that the band were actually performing their own stunts) but the masks created for the video were such poor representations, that the decision was made to use balaclavas instead.[1] The video also features cameos by stunt choreographer Grant Page as a helicopter pilot, and actor Noah Taylor as a truck passenger. It is included in the Blur: The Best of DVD/VHS released on 30 October 2000. The 'actors' in the video are all anagrams of the member of the band they play. They are as follows:

  • Dan Abnormal - Damon Albarn
  • Trevor Dewane - Dave Rowntree
  • Morgan C. Hoax - Graham Coxon
  • Lee Jaxsam - Alex James

'Dan Abnormal' was an alias also used by Albarn whilst playing keyboards on the first Elastica album, as well as the title of a track on The Great Escape.

Track listing

Notes:

  • The UK and US 'Road versions' are different, the U.S. version using the same take as is used on the video and U.K. promo cd while the U.K. version is mis-printed and is actually an edited version of the track on the album (exactly the same as the Alan Moulder Mix on the U.S. Promo).
  • The Alan Moulder Mix is actually an edited version of the track from the album (and same as the UK Road Version on the standard UK release).
  • The UK 7" is on orange vinyl.
  • I Love Her (Demo) appeared on the 1st ever Fan Club CD, but has a slightly different mix for the Japanese market.
  • The remix of Movin' On also appears on Bustin' + Dronin', however the Moby remix is exclusive to this single, with a different Moby remix on Bustin' + Dronin'

Production credits

Peak positions

Chart (1997) Peak
position
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[2] 45
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[3] 15

References

  1. ↑ Conversation with the director, 1997
  2. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Blur – M.O.R.". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  3. ↑ "Archive Chart: 1997-06-28" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved 6 June 2014.

External links

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