This Is a Low

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“This Is a Low”
Song by Blur
Album Parklife
Released April 30, 1994
Recorded 1993
Genre Britpop
Length 5:07
Label Food Records
Composer Damon Albarn
Producer Stephen Street
Parklife track listing
"Jubilee"
(14)		 “This Is a Low”
(15)		 "Lot 105"
(16)


"This Is a Low" is a track written and recorded by Blur for the band's third studio album, Parklife.

[edit] Music and Lyrics of the song

The song is in the key of E major and is in 4/4 time. In total, the song contains two verses, two choruses, a guitar solo and two further choruses. The music commences with a four-chord guitar progression, before moving straight into the first verse. The song's lyrics are about a low in pressure hitting the country. The lyrics are based on the Shipping Forecast, with references made to the various areas surrounding Britain.

According to bassist Alex James in his 2007 autobiography Bit of a Blur, "Damon was struggling with the words. For Christmas I brought him a hankerchief with a map of the shipping forecast regions on it... you can never tell where the muse is going to appear. It went on to become Blur's most popular song".

[edit] Locations named in the song

This is a list of the forecast locations mentioned in the song (in context):

[edit] Popularity

The album itself was (and still is) regarded as a classic in many "best-of" charts (e.g. in the Channel 4's 100 Greatest albums poll, Parklife came 36th). This song is often chosen as a stand-out track from the album. It is also popular within the band, this is proved by the surprise inclusion on Blur's Best Of compilation album. "This Is a Low" was the only album track included on the album. Its popularity is highlighted by the above quote from bassist Alex James.

v • d • e
Blur
Damon Albarn · Graham Coxon · Alex James · Dave Rowntree
Albums
Compilations
Singles
Related articles