| "El Mañana" | ||||||||
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| Single by Gorillaz | ||||||||
| from the album Demon Days | ||||||||
| A-side | "Kids with Guns" | |||||||
| B-side | "Stop the Dams" | |||||||
| Released | 10 April 2006 | |||||||
| Format | 7", CD, DVD | |||||||
| Recorded | 2004 | |||||||
| Genre | Electronica, trip hop | |||||||
| Length | 3:50 | |||||||
| Label | Parlophone | |||||||
| Producer | Gorillaz, Danger Mouse, Jason Cox, James Dring | |||||||
| Gorillaz singles chronology | ||||||||
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"El Mañana" is a song from the Gorillaz's second album, Demon Days. It was released as a single on 10 April 2006 in the UK as double A-side with "Kids With Guns", becominmg the fourth and final single from the album Demon Days. Unlike it's predecessors from Demon Days, "Kids with Guns"/"El Mañana" reached #27 upon its release in the UK.
Contents |
In early August 2005, the winner of the "Search for a Star" competition was announced to collaborate with Gorillaz on this single. In early November 2005, Gorillaz's co-creator Jamie Hewlett announced the release of "El Mañana" as the fourth single to be taken from the album. This video was also used in Blue Man Group's "How to be a Megastar" tour in Grand Rapids at Van Andel Arena; however, a different song was used. A theory about how the song was named is that it uses the term "The Morning" as a play on words, actually meaning "The Mourning," since Noodle's apparent death was staged in the video.
"El Mañana" was a full-budget video from Passion Pictures, directed by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland. According to Gorillaz.com, the video was to be released 11 March 2006. The video is a continuation of the "Feel Good Inc." video. Noodle is floating along peacefully in the sunshine on her floating island. Suddenly two helicopters (resembling RAH-66 Comanche's) catch up to the island and begin to fire upon Noodle with machine guns. As Noodle flees into the windmill, the helicopters smash into the sails and destroy them. When Noodle comes out of the windmill, the windmill is now in flames from the onslaught of the attacking helicopters, and the ground, once lush, green and full of life, was now barren and empty. The helicopter pilots see her and start to attack again, and she is forced back inside the windmill. The stricken island then starts to lose altitude and falls down into a canyon. Then one of the two helicopters drops a bomb and they fly off. Though it may appear that Noodle is seen parachuting to safety during the crash sequence at 3:27 of the video, the parachute-like object is actually a shrub that is torn from the ground to the left of the windmill as it falls towards the earth, as seen at 3:21.
Many themes seem to be displayed throughout the video. Two of such themes are the struggle between childhood innocence and adulthood war, as well as the idea that when kept in a paradise too long, one would rather stay in that paradise as it goes up in flames rather than move on. Also, the turning of the windmill may symbolize the ticking of a clock, more so as the clock of life or something similar. As 2-D said in "Feel Good Inc.", "It is ticking, falling down." Some of the themes, which are continued from the "Feel Good Inc." video, are once again the "dumbing down" of mass culture and how mental freedom can be destroyed by a "corporation". This is shown when the floating island (mental freedom) is destroyed by the helicopters. With Noodle on the island when being attacked, another theme is how children are being desensitized by images of violence and war. This particular theme can also be heard in the song and seen in the music video for "Dirty Harry". The video also seems to reflect Damon Albarn's views against war. The windmill burning not unlike an oil well and the helicopters, that are similar to the Comanche helicopters, can be interpreted as a reference to the War in Iraq. The attack on Noodle and the island itself seems to be a comment on the targeting of innocent by-standers in times of war and that war destroys all things that are peaceful in the world. Finally, in the end, the dropping of the bomb onto Noodle, who is Japanese, can be interpreted as a reference to the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or nuclear weapons in general. In addition, it is shown that the floating island seems to have the only green environment around, while the world below is only a barren land. With the floating island also representing nature and the helicopters representing industry, the theme of ecological destruction is also apparent, which 2-D hinted at in "Feel Good Inc.", with the lyrics "Windmill, windmill, for the land...". When one first watches this video, it becomes clear on who is the villain and who is the hero, according Vladimir Propp's character functions. Most viewers would originally see Noodle as the hero of the video, and the helicopters as the villains. But these roles can be switched. Noodle and her island are in the skies or, as one could see it; heaven. So, Noodle is there, but could not be allowed there. Therefore the helicopters come to remove her from the premises, making the helicopters the heroes and Noodle, potentially, the villain. The passing of the canyon top on the video could be seen as Noodle passing back into her world.
For a few weeks before the video release, a series of events had been taking place. First, at Kong Studios on the Gorillaz website, boxes and other packing materials were seen in the lobby on 16 February 2006. A few weeks later, they were moved into Noodle's room. Subsequently, Noodle apparently began to pack the contents of her room into those boxes, and the windmill from the "Feel Good Inc." video was seen tethered to the balcony. After 7 March, as an intro before entering Kong Studios, a movie would play depicting the windmill flying away. At Gorillaz website, Noodle's room is largely barren, although the links associated with her belongings are still accessible and Shaun Ryder's head, introduced in the music video for "DARE", is still hooked up behind the partition. As of 13 March, her room started to crack around the corners on the walls. Additionally, the "Armageddon clock" on the wall had appeared to have slowed down and had an additional fourth hand. The clock has fallen off the wall and a part of the ceiling has collapsed, revealing a corridor from both Noodle's room and the Map. It was theorized that the events of the video are not merely staged because the helicopters change in appearance. In "Feel Good Inc." they are lighter, and seem to more closely resemble Bell 47Gs. In "El Mañana", they appear heavier and more armoured, seemingly modeled more like the Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. This would seem to indicate that Noodle was pursued in the "Feel Good Inc." video, stayed at Kong Studios, packed up, departed, and was then pursued by two different helicopters in the "El Mañana" video. According to the fictional history of the band, Noodle found that she was in fact a test subject in a secret government super soldier project. The limited edition of Demon Days includes a DVD full of bonus features, including the "Feel Good Inc." video with audio commentary by the band members (Gorillaz), confirming that "Feel Good Inc." was indeed staged.
Since the video was released, an interview with Damon Albarn by MTV[1] confirmed that Noodle had been "killed off", though he added that she "may return". An official mailout was sent out that featured Noodle congratulating Jamie Hewlett for winning the Designer of the Year Award 2006. There had also been an interview with the Gorillaz on the Australian video music show Video Hits. Shortly after the video was released, Gorillaz also performed on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, with Noodle present. Another recent mailout had reported that she was "missing". Seven months after the video was released, the truth was revealed in the Gorillaz autobiography Rise of the Ogre. In it, Murdoc finally revealed that the "El Mañana" video was indeed "staged" and that Noodle is still "alive". It turns out that the entire "El Mañana" conspiracy was calculated specifically to get rid of an enemy of the band: Little Jimmy Manson, a psychotic hippie turned industry executive who was set on sabotaging Gorillaz. Jimmy auditioned for Gorillaz a few years back, but was turned down after Noodle got the job. He held a grudge with Gorillaz ever since. Murdoc saw Jimmy's plan and decided to get rid of Jimmy before it was too late. Murdoc told Jimmy that he had a plan to "help him" to kill off one of the band members so that firstly, Gorillaz would end with a bang and secondly, Jimmy could start a new band with Murdoc. Noodle was to do the "El Mañana" video with Manson stowed away on the island and then, while the windmill was crashing around them, Jimmy would shoot the guitarist whilst taking the parachute for himself. However, Murdoc turned the tables on Jimmy by not only "forgetting" to leave the weapon aboard the island but by also locking him in the windmill; Jimmy supposedly died within the crash while Noodle parachuted to safety. His statement followed.
Murdoc stated that Noodle had been planning to leave after Demon Days. This could mean she wanted to leave the band, but she could of meant Plastic Beach. Murdoc, in order to run with his plan to off Jimmy, made a deal with Noodle: she could disappear for some R&R with no fuss if she did the video. As stated in Rise of the Ogre, Noodle is in the Maldives "chilling out". On 21 January 2010, Murdoc had hijacked the NME Radio and Yahoo! Radio where he played a set of songs and further unveiled the premise of recording the new album, Plastic Beach, where it was revealed that Noodle's survival had been naturally retconned in that while the parachuting was confirmed, the band never saw her again after the recording of "El Mañana" and Murdoc's supposed rescue attempt was but a drunken delusion. As such Noodle became replaced by a cyborg replica built by Murdoc using her DNA found at the windmill wreckage and parts from Russell's drum machine in order to provide guitar for the new album. Murdoc had also revealed that the helicopters that shot the windmill down were pirates and mercenaries that Murdoc had been selling bad weapons to in Mexico and that he was still on the run from them. In the music video for On Melancholy Hill it is shown that Noodle is alive.
| Chart (2005) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 31 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 33 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 39 |
| UK Singles Chart | 27 |
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