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

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith

Steven Tyler of AerosmithSongwriter Interviews

Tyler talks about his true love: songwriting. How he identifies the beauty in a melody and turns sorrow into art.

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn YankeesSongwriter Interviews

Revisit the awesome glory of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees: cheesily-acted videos, catchy guitar licks, long hair, and lyrics that are just plain relatable.

Album Cover Inspirations

Album Cover InspirationsSong Writing

Some album art was at least "inspired" by others. A look at some very similar covers.

Keith Reid of Procol Harum

Keith Reid of Procol HarumSongwriter Interviews

As Procol Harum's lyricist, Keith wrote the words to "A Whiter Shade Of Pale." We delve into that song and find out how you can form a band when you don't sing or play an instrument.

Tom Johnston from The Doobie Brothers

Tom Johnston from The Doobie BrothersSongwriter Interviews

The Doobies guitarist and lead singer, Tom wrote the classics "Listen To The Music," "Long Train Runnin'" and "China Grove."

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New York

Barney Hoskyns Explores The Forgotten History Of Woodstock, New YorkSong Writing

Our chat with Barney Hoskyns, who covers the wild years of Woodstock - the town, not the festival - in his book Small Town Talk.