Tag Archives: born

#982: Blur – One Born Every Minute

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‘One Born Every Minute’ was officially released as a B-Side on Blur’s ‘Country House’ single in August ’95. There’s not much online about it, so I wouldn’t be able to relay many concrete facts about it. I want to say that its drums and percussion were actually recorded during the making of Modern Life Is Rubbish and are virtually the same as they appear in that recording. I also listened to drummer Dave Rowntree’s podcast a fair time ago, and when this track’s name popped up in conversation, he advised for the people who hadn’t heard it to, “Just don’t. Just don’t bother.” Said jokingly, but with sincerity. To any first listeners here, don’t be frightened. Now, there are some kazoos and a glaring use of those old-timey bike horns. I don’t mind those too much. You readers just might. If you get those out of your psyche, you’ll find there is a fine song underneath to be found. Still, you’ll see why it was just a B-Side and not alongside the stronger material that made it onto The Great Escape.

The track carries on the “We’re oh-so British” theme that the band had cultivated for themselves in ’93, but had taken to another level by 1995. With a musical, Cockney knees-up element to it, the song’s another observational take on Saturday nights out and Sunday roasts, talking to elders who gone through the war and commenting on how, when it comes to sex, everyone seems to be doing it with reckless abandon. At least that’s how I’ve taken it. When it comes to the chorus, I’m not sure whether the lyrics are meant to be sarcastic or earnest. There’s something within them that doesn’t totally match the tone of those berses. When Damon sings, “Oh, well, see how we’ve grown/One gets born every minute” is that somehow saying that we haven’t grown at all and are just carrying out the same routine, only for the next generation to repeat? Or is the chorus merely just a assortment of phrases that seemed to work together for the music. Maybe it’s a bit of both. Maybe I’m thinking too much about it.

Overall, it’s a very catchy tune with plenty of melodies and musical oddities that will catch your ear over repeated listens. Some of those highlights for me are: those climbing “ooh-ooh” harmonies by Graham Coxon in the choruses, his higher “EVERY MINUTE” alongside Damon’s lower vocal when he sings the same phrase, those harmonies on the “gin” before the second chorus that go all over the place but somehow work, and that piano that’s turned right up in the mix during the instrumental break before the final chorus. Some may find it all rather silly. But there’s always a time for that sort of thing.

#909: Muse – New Born

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Muse’s ‘New Born’ starts off the band’s 2001 album Origin of Symmetry. I’ve always seen it as something of a “Welcome to the 21st century” moment, and I believe that’s meant to be reflected in the way that it transitions from the soft piano-based into the mega-crunchy guitar riff properly introduces the track and the overall sound of the rest of the tracks that follow. The riffs throughout this six minute wonder are quite spectacular. There’s the aforementioned riff that gets things going, there’s Chris Wolstenholme’s bass riff that occurs throughout the verses… Matt Bellamy’s guitar solo’s pretty out there too. On a whole the band are firing on all cylinders, it’s a huge ball of energy.

Matthew Bellamy’s vocal style is one that’s lost if effect on me as the years have gone on, but there are still some Muse tracks where it just suits perfectly with all the melodies and rhythms that are happening around it. ‘New Born’ is another one of them, in my opinion. How he changes it around to match the tone of each respective section… It subtly builds and builds from the verse up to that final line in the chorus with the falsetto, and it’s extremely effective when that falsetto turns into a scream and segues into the track’s closing instrumental section. Goosebumps every time that happens. Some could be cynical and say something like the whole “technology is taking over and humanity is suffering because of it” subject was already done by Radiohead a few years earlier, arguably in a better way, but whatever it’s just another take on it from another band at the end of the day.

Last year the band released a remixed and remastered version of Origin of Symmetry to coincide with the 20th anniversary of its release. The new mix of ‘New Born’ revealed some details that were really buried in that original 2001 mix. Like those ‘aah-aah’ backing vocals during the choruses? Did you know those were there, because I certainly didn’t. It also generally took away a lot of the compression present in the original mix, so it sounds very open and somewhat wider in comparison. If that makes any sense. I may still prefer the original release though. But I’ll link the new mix below, so you can make up your own mind.