Hallelujah Money

Album: Humanz (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This Donald Trump protest song was dropped by Gorillaz on January 19, 2017, 24 hours before the inauguration of the new president. The track explores themes of money, power, and Trump's version of the American Dream.
  • According to Murdoc, the bassist for the animated band, the song was put out just in time for Trump's inauguration and serves as an official protest cut.

    "In these dark times, we all need someone to look up to," he said. "That's why I'm giving you this new Gorillaz song, a lighting bolt of truth in a black night. You're welcome."
  • Gorillaz teamed up with Benjamin Clementine for the cut. The London-born singer-songwriter's At Least For Now LP won the 2015 Mercury Music prize, an annual prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland.
  • There's a SpongeBob Squarepants clip at the end of the song. It's taken from season one, episode 14, "Karate Choppers."
  • The video features a mournful Clementine performing in a gold-plated elevator - a visual reference to Trump Tower - while a montage of increasingly disturbing images, like hooded Ku Klux Klan members and frightening clowns, appear behind him. It ends with a scene of Spongebob Squarepants yelling.
  • Damon Albarn recalled the story of the song to Q magazine: "I had this image: a shadowy figure next to a tree in a field at dawn and slowly it lights up and they're actually on stage at the inauguration and there's all the regalia of the empire and everyone's singing this dark spiritual."

    "I just let Benjamin go with it," he added. "He sang that literally in one take. Incredible."
  • Benjamin Clementine said: "We knew Donald Trump was going to win the election. Obviously it was devastating, so it was great that we came together and wrote something."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Kiss

KissFact or Fiction

Kiss is the subject of many outlandish rumors - some of which happen to be true. See if you can spot the fakes.

Gary Brooker of Procol Harum

Gary Brooker of Procol HarumSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer and pianist for Procol Harum, Gary talks about finding the musical ideas to match the words.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in Songs

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in SongsSong Writing

Elvis, Little Richard and Cheryl Cole have all sung about Teddy Bears, but there is also a terrifying Teddy song from 1932 and a touching trucker Teddy tune from 1976.

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The Kingdom

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The KingdomSongwriter Interviews

The Bush frontman on where he finds inspiration for lyrics, if his "machine head" is a guitar tuner, and the stories behind songs from the album The Kingdom.

Is That Song Public Domain?

Is That Song Public Domain?Fact or Fiction

Are classic songs like "Over The Rainbow" and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the public domain?