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"M.O.R." is a song by English rock band Blur from their eponymous album. Released on 15 September 1997, "M.O.R." reached number 15 in the UK Singles Chart on its release as a single in 1997. Worldwide, it reached number 45 in New Zealand and also charted in Australia, Canada, and the United States.

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"M.O.R."
Single by Blur
from the album Blur
B-side	"Swallows in the Heatwave" "Movin' On" (remix) "Beetlebum" (remix)
Released	15 September 1997 (1997-09-15)[1]
Genre	Alternative rock indie rock
Length	3:27 (album version)
Label	Food Parlophone Virgin (US)
Songwriter(s)	Damon Albarn Graham Coxon Alex James Dave Rowntree David Bowie[2] Brian Eno[3]
Producer(s)	Stephen Street
Blur singles chronology
"On Your Own" (1997) "M.O.R." (1997) "Tender" (1999)
Music video
"M.O.R." on YouTube

Composition and lyrics

The song's chord progression was borrowed from David Bowie's "Boys Keep Swinging" and "Fantastic Voyage". On the album Lodger Bowie and collaborator Brian Eno carried out a musical experiment in which multiple songs were written with the same chord progression, of which "Boys Keep Swinging" and "Fantastic Voyage" were the two that surfaced. "M.O.R." is both a continuation of, and tribute to that experiment, as its chorus also lifts the melody and call-and-response vocals from "Boys Keep Swinging" (Bowie and Eno both received credit for "M.O.R." after legal intervention).[4]

"M.O.R." itself stands for "middle of the road", which appears in the lyrics.

Music video

The song's music video was directed by John Hardwick. It was shot in Sydney, Australia, and follows the misadventures of the band members (or rather, stuntmen in balaclavas pretending to be them) as they try to escape from the police. It was intended that the stuntmen wear masks of the band members to make it appear that the band were performing their own stunts, but the masks created for the video were such poor representations that the decision was made to use balaclavas instead.[5] The video also features cameos by stunt choreographer Grant Page as a helicopter pilot, and actor Noah Taylor as a truck passenger. It is included in the Blur: The Best of DVD/VHS released on 30 October 2000. The 'actors' in the video are all anagrams of the member of the band they play. They are as follows:

• Dan Abnormal – Damon Albarn
• Trevor Dewane – Dave Rowntree
• Morgan C. Hoax – Graham Coxon
• Lee Jaxsam – Alex James

"Dan Abnormal" was an alias also used by Albarn whilst playing keyboards on the first Elastica album, as well as the title of a track on The Great Escape.

Track listings

All lyrics were written by Albarn. All music was composed by Albarn, Coxon, James, and Rowntree.

Personnel and credits

• "Bustin' + Dronin'" and "Swallows in the Heatwave" produced by Blur
• "M.O.R." (road version) and "Dancehall" produced by Stephen Street
• Damon Albarn – vocals
• Graham Coxon – guitar, vocals
• Alex James – bass guitar
• Dave Rowntree – drums

Charts

Chart (1997)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)[13]	68
Canada Rock/Alternative (RPM)[14]	11
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[15]	45
Scotland (OCC)[16]	15
UK Singles (OCC)[17]	15
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)[18]	14

References

На других языках

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- [en] M.O.R.

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[es] M.O.R.

«M.O.R.» (Middle Of the Road) —en español: «Mitad de la carretera»— es una canción de la banda inglesa de rock Blur de su álbum homónimo. Publicada el 15 de septiembre de 1997, alcanzó el número 15 en el UK Singles Chart en su lanzamiento como sencillo en 1997. A nivel mundial, alcanzó el número 45 en Nueva Zelanda y también en Australia, Canadá y Estados Unidos.

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