Avril 14th

Album: Drukqs (2001)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Avril 14th" is a piece by electronic musician Aphex Twin, released on the album Drukqs, released October 22, 2001. The album reached #22 in the UK Albums chart and #6 in the US Dance Albums chart.

    Unlike the majority of James' electronic tracks, "Avril 14th" consists singularly of a tender two-part piano piece.
  • The track is used in Kanye West's "Blame Game." Richard D. James claims that West tried to get away with not paying, his reps saying, "It's not yours, it's ours."

    The piano part sounds like it could be re-recorded by West rather than directly sampled. In the liner notes for its album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, it states that "Blame Game" "contains elements of Avril 14 by Richard James."
  • The track has been used in film soundtracks, including Marie Antoinette (2006) and at the end of Chris Morris' Four Lions (2010).
  • An alternate version, titled "avril altdelay," was included in Aphex Twin's SoundCloud dump as user18081971. Though it remains mostly unchanged, it is in a different key and is slightly more rough in its recording quality - featuring the echo from the room, as opposed to the dryness of the original.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Chris Tomlin

Chris TomlinSongwriter Interviews

The king of Christian worship music explains talks about writing songs for troubled times.

Trans Soul Rebels: Songs About Transgenderism

Trans Soul Rebels: Songs About TransgenderismSong Writing

A history of songs dealing with transgender issues, featuring Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Morrissey and Green Day.

Phone Booth Songs

Phone Booth SongsSong Writing

Phone booths are nearly extinct, but they provided storylines for some of the most profound songs of the pre-cell phone era.

Ramones

RamonesFact or Fiction

A band so baffling, even their names were contrived. Check your score in the Ramones version of Fact or Fiction.

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s EditionMusic Quiz

You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?

Bryan Adams

Bryan AdamsSongwriter Interviews

What's the deal with "Summer of '69"? Bryan explains what the song is really about, and shares more of his songwriting insights.