hypersongs

Go Back

The lead single of Film of Life, featuring Damon Albarn, a homage to the refugees of Lampedusa.
Tony Allen, from Film of Life (2014)

OkayAfrica reported on July 2, 2014 that Albarn is credited as co-writer, with vocals and keys. Stereogum's Michael Nelson called it a languid, easy, sun-drenched thing on its first airing that day. Allen's YouTube description calls it a homage to the African refugees who ended up on the Italian island of Lampedusa. OkayAfrica hears a horn-flanked ballad, supremely meditative; PopMatters hears a light bouncy rhythm with minor chords on syrupy keyboard strings, which could pass for an Albarn project; and Songlines hears a slow Afrobeat drum pattern catalyzing a melancholy Albarn melody. A search summary of Glide says they wrote and recorded it in a day at Allen's Paris studio, which we could not verify.

A black-and-white video premiered on the Guardian's site on September 10, 2014. Setlist.fm shows four performances, tied with "Ewa" as Allen's most played. Our upload is the album version.

On stage

  • 2020-08-12, AIM Independent Music Awards Albarn's tribute performance.

Sources

  1. Tony Allen and Damon Albarn reunite on Go Back, OkayAfrica (2014-07-02)
  2. Tony Allen, Go Back, Stereogum (2014-07-02)
  3. Tony Allen on setlist.fm, setlist.fm
  4. Film of Life, Afropop Worldwide (2014-10-28)