Charmless Man
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| "Charmless Man" | ||||
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| Template:Infobox song/link by Blur | ||||
| from the album The Great Escape | ||||
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| [[Songwriter|SongwriterTemplate:Pluralize from text]] | ||||
| [[Record producer|ProducerTemplate:Pluralize from text]] | Stephen Street | |||
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"Charmless Man" is a song by English rock band Blur and is the fourth track on their fourth studio album, The Great Escape (1995). It was produced by Stephen Street and released by Food Records and Parlophone on 29 April 1996 in the United Kingdom as the fourth and final single from that album. The single reached number five on the UK Singles Chart and also charted in Australia, France, Iceland, and Ireland. The accompanying music video was directed by Jamie Thraves and features Jean-Marc Barr.
The accompanying UK B-sides, "The Horrors", "A Song" and "St. Louis", continued the dramatic change in style for Blur first evidenced on the "Stereotypes" single, being stark and raw, foreshadowing the stylistic shift that would realize itself on their eponymous follow-up album.
Background
The inspiration for the song was a visit by Damon Albarn to his grandmother in Lincolnshire. He stopped off at Grantham railway station and when inside the gentlemen's toilet, he noticed a piece of graffiti on a similar theme to the song's title.[3][4]
Critical reception
British magazine Music Week gave the song five out of five and named it Single of the Week, writing, "The fourth and final single from The Great Escape is probably its best track. This should restore Blur's status as a more-than-convincing chart band."[5] Music & Media described it as "sheer foolishness".[6] Smash Hits gave it four out of five, adding, "A tale of a bloke no-one likes. A wonderful, instant sing-a-long tune."[7]
Morrissey stated that he liked the song in an interview at the time.[8]
Music video
The music video for "Charmless Man" was directed by British film writer and director Jamie Thraves. It starts with a man (the Charmless Man, played by Jean-Marc Barr) running down a dark street with a makeshift bandage or wrapping on his right hand, while cross cut edits show Blur playing in a music hall. After the verse which is accompanied by piano, the band are playing in the man's apartment in his bathroom, whilst the man uses an electric toothbrush and uses some red wine as mouthwash. After becoming fully dressed, the man goes out into the corridor, where the band are again. After pushing Damon Albarn out of the way, he enters a lift. The band once again are there. They are also there in the foyer when the man leaves the lift. The members of the band hang around outside, when the man, frustrated at the band following him anywhere he goes, pushes Albarn over and kicks him.
After collecting his car from the valet, the man drives off, hoping to be free from the band. They appear at the roadside twice as the man drives down the street. At the third time, the band are standing in the middle of the road and the man drives straight into them, knocking them all over. Following this latest appearance by the band, he smashes the car windows with his fists in anger. He is then seen again running on the dark street, with his badly cut hand wrapped, at which point it becomes clear that the earlier scene of him running was out of time sequence. He staggers into the hall, once again finding it his fate to see the band performing in front of him. He can escape neither the band nor his own nature. In the final shot, the camera zooms in onto Albarn's face as the final notes are sung and played and he has a contemptuous smile on his face.
Track listings
All music was composed by Albarn, Coxon, James and Rowntree. All lyrics were composed by Albarn.
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Personnel
- Damon Albarn – lead vocals, piano
- Graham Coxon – electric guitar, backing vocals
- Alex James – bass guitar
- Dave Rowntree – drums
Charts
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Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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| United Kingdom (BPI)[18] | Silver | 200,000 |
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‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
Release history
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
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| Australia | 1996 | CD | Page Template:Hlist/styles.css has no content. | |
| France | EMI Music France | |||
| United Kingdom | 29 April 1996 | Page Template:Hlist/styles.css has no content.
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References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (4 May 2024). "The 25 most essential Blur songs". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Shipley, Al (21 July 2023). "Every Blur Album, Ranked". Spin. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
Such self-explanatory titles as 'Charmless Man' are supported by serrated, droll lyrics and irony-filled baroque-pop music...
- ^ Zoë Ball, The Radio 1 Breakfast Show, BBC Radio 1, December 1998
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ashurst, Sam (2 July 2009). "Songs That Could Be Movies: Blur". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Reviews" (PDF). Music Week. 20 April 1996. p. 10. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."New Releases: Albums — Album of the Week" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 12, no. 39. 30 September 1995. p. 9. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Albums: Best New Album". Smash Hits. 13 September 1995. p. 59. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Woods, Paul A. (1 October 2017). Morrissey In Conversation: The Essential Interviews. Plexus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85965-874-4.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Charmless Man (UK 7-inch single sleeve). Blur. Food Records, Parlophone. 1996. FOOD 77, 7243 8 82884 7 7.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Charmless Man (UK cassette single sleeve). Blur. Food Records, Parlophone. 1996. TC-FOOD 77, 7243 8 82884 4 6.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Charmless Man (UK CD single liner notes). Blur. Food Records, Parlophone. 1996. CDFOOD 77, 7243 8 82884 2 2.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Charmless Man (European CD single liner notes). Blur. Food Records, Parlophone. 1996. 7243 8 82708 2 3.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Charmless Man (French CD single liner notes). Blur. EMI Music France. 1996. 7243 8 82757 2.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Charmless Man (Australasian CD single liner notes). Blur. Food Records, Parlophone. 1996. 8827092.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 13, no. 20. 18 May 1996. p. 24. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (13.4. – 19.4. '96)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in íslenska). 13 April 1996. p. 38. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Árslistinn 1996". Dagblaðið Vísir (in íslenska). 2 January 1997. p. 16. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
- ^ Script error: No such module "cite". Select singles in the Formats field. Type Charmless Man Blur in the "Search:" field.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 27 April 1996. p. 35. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
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