Beetlebum

Beetlebum was released on 16 January 1997 as the lead single from Blur. All four members share the music credit and Albarn wrote the lyrics. They are about his experiences with heroin and his then girlfriend Justine Frischmann. Albarn said it was about drugs basically, and described the mood as sleepy and sexy. He also said he was not sure what a beetlebum is: it was just a word he sang when he played the song to himself, and the others said not to change it.

Alex James remembered that when the song was first taken around it was seen as commercial suicide. It sold 120,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number one in the UK, the band's second chart-topper after Country House. Stephen Street said that hearing Albarn's vocal for the first time left him with tears in his eyes. AllMusic's Erlewine wrote that it ran through the White Album in the space of five minutes. Sophie Muller directed the video, and Moby remixed the song for the remix album Bustin' + Dronin'. Blur played it at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens on 1 July 1997 and at Glastonbury on 27 June 1998.