Beetlebum

Beetlebum

Blur

“Beetlebum” is a song by English alternative rock band Blur. It was released as the lead single for the band’s eponymous fifth album, Blur. The single became Blur’s second to reach the number one spot in the UK Singles Chart (after “Country House”)

Damon Albarn has confessed that the song is about heroin and the drug experiences he had with his then-girlfriend, Justine Frischmann of Elastica. In the 2010 Blur documentary, No Distance Left to Run, Albarn confirmed this notion on film. The song’s title is a reference to the phrase “Chasing the beetle” which refers to inhaling the smoke from heated heroin, morphine, or opium that has been placed on a piece of tin-foil. Albarn has stated in an interview with MTV that the song describes a complicated emotion, sort of ‘sleepy’ and sort of ‘sexy’.