Saturday Come Slow

Album: Heligoland (2009)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This lament features the vocals of Blur frontman Damon Albarn. Massive Attack band leader Robert "3D" Del Naja explained to the NME that he drafted in Albarn at the beginning of 2009 to work on two songs, but the Blur singer was initially wary of the band's famously drawn-out methods. "He [Albarn] was like, 'I want to work with you, but I'm not getting sucked into some nine-year-long Bristol dope-haze'," he said. 3D added: "[Albarn] said] 'We'll work 10 to six, at my studio, for five days and that'll be it'. The irony was that it was him who ended up instigating all the bad behaviour!"
  • 3D told The Daily Telegraph how Albarn's contributions energized the duo: "It changed everything up," he said. "It was a different energy and a different environment. We started to strip everything back and build it back up again. That feels like the start of what the album is now."
  • Portishead's Adrian Utley plays guitar on this track.
  • 3D told The Independent February 12, 2010: "Damon wrote this about Bristol and the sort of limestone caves of the south-west land. 'One sound that the believers understand': you know, it's definitely about Bristol and Damon interpreting our relationship with our own land. It's almost, like, you know, frontiers and medieval times, when the land was divided into counties, this being the county of Bristol and his view of it. And also I think his experience of passing through it and of places like Glastonbury or Devon."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Donnie Iris (Ah! Leah!, The Rapper)

Donnie Iris (Ah! Leah!, The Rapper)Songwriter Interviews

Before "Rap" was a form of music, it was something guys did to pick up girls in nightclubs. Donnie talks about "The Rapper" and reveals the identity of Leah.

David Bowie Leads the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired Men

David Bowie Leads the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired MenSong Writing

Bowie's "activist" days of 1964 led to Ziggy Stardust.

Bob Daisley

Bob DaisleySongwriter Interviews

Bob was the bass player and lyricist for the first two Ozzy Osbourne albums. Here's how he wrote songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" with Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.

La La Brooks of The Crystals

La La Brooks of The CrystalsSong Writing

The lead singer on "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me," La La explains how and why Phil Spector replaced The Crystals with Darlene Love on "He's A Rebel."

Randy Houser

Randy HouserSongwriter Interviews

The "How Country Feels" singer talks Skynyrd and songwriting.

Laura Nyro

Laura NyroSongwriting Legends

Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.