Ong Ong
by Blur

Album: The Magic Whip (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Guitarist Graham Coxon told NME about this sing-a-long tune: "It's a bit of a knees up. When Damon (Albarn) did the lyrics, and I went to listen to the vocal he said to me, 'I've gone a bit populist with this one,' but there's not an awful lot you can do with a song like that: it kind of has to be a beers-in-the-air sing-along."

    "The 'I wanna be with you' picks reminds me of being on a beach and there's palm trees swaying, the colors are a bit much, you're feeling a little bit sick, there's ice cream everywhere and some rock stars scattered around getting sunburnt," he added. "It's like some kind of weird advert for the Bahamas. I really like it, but sometimes a song will ask some weird stuff of you – stuff that you might not necessarily like doing, but the song has told you to do it. And so you have to obey!"
  • Blur performed the song on television for the first time during the April 14, 2015 episode of Later… with Jools Holland.
  • The song's music video was directed by British-born Chinese artist Tony Hung and was inspired by his memories of retro video games. The narrative finds the four Blur members as characters from a fictional game inspired by The Magic Whip album. The clip features Damon Albarn dressed up as Mr. Cream, the ice cream cone depicted on the CD cover, while Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree portray Mr. Brown, Mr. Red and Mr. Black respectively.

    The clip also references a number of iconic '80s video games, including Mario, Popeye, Ms. Pac-Man and Kirby's Adventure.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Cheerleaders In Music Videos

Cheerleaders In Music VideosSong Writing

It started with a bouncy MTV classic. Nirvana and MCR made them scary, then Gwen, Avril and Madonna put on the pom poms.

Shaun Morgan of Seether

Shaun Morgan of SeetherSongwriter Interviews

Shaun breaks down the Seether songs, including the one about his brother, the one about Ozzy, and the one that may or may not be about his ex-girlfriend Amy Lee.

Real or Spinal Tap

Real or Spinal TapMusic Quiz

They sang about pink torpedoes and rocking you tonight tonight, but some real lyrics are just as ridiculous. See if you can tell which lyrics are real and which are Spinal Tap in this lyrics quiz.

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull

Ian Anderson of Jethro TullSongwriter Interviews

The flautist frontman talks about touring with Led Zeppelin, his contribution to "Hotel California", and how he may have done the first MTV Unplugged.

Stan Ridgway

Stan RidgwaySongwriter Interviews

Go beyond the Wall of Voodoo with this cinematic songwriter.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.