Tarantula

Album: Cracker Island (2023)
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Songfacts®:

  • Here, Gorillaz virtual vocalist 2-D desires a romantic partner who can love him and anchor him.

    I need you, I need you, I need you
    If you're good for me
    Then I'm good for you
    And that's all I need


    2-D would be a caring and devoted partner who would sacrifice his own well-being to support his loved one.
  • Gorillaz recorded "Tarantula" for Cracker Island. It's the most romantic track on the album, but there's no mention of any spiders in the lyric. According to Spotify's Storyline of the song, when Damon Albarn, co-creator of the virtual band, arrived at Montevideo Airport on the first day of Gorillaz's South American tour, he saw a tarantula walking about at baggage claim. The large hairy spider inspired this song. "It's a very beautiful creature," he said. "A simple thing that charms you."
  • Gorillaz's cartoon bass player, Murdoc Niccals, offered his commentary on this disco ballad in his own inimitable way during a Cracker Island listening party.

    "2-D claims the inspiration was, he met a tarantula that looked like George Michael," he said. "Total rubbish! It was inspired by a dream I had. I was being chased by giant spiders! I woke up screaming, and gradually my scream of terror morphed and mellowed into a brilliant riff. Behold, the track was born. Trigger warning: arachnophobes might want to mute."

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