"Dirty Harry" | |||||||||||||
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Single by Gorillaz featuring Bootie Brown & San Fernando Valley Youth Chorus | |||||||||||||
from the album Demon Days | |||||||||||||
B-side | "Hongkongaton" "All Alone" |
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Released | 21 November 2005 | ||||||||||||
Format | Digital download, CD, DVD | ||||||||||||
Recorded | 2004 | ||||||||||||
Genre | Alternative hip hop | ||||||||||||
Length |
3:43 (Album version) 3:47 (Single version) |
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Label | Parlophone | ||||||||||||
Writer(s) | 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Bootie Brown | ||||||||||||
Producer(s) | Gorillaz, Danger Mouse | ||||||||||||
Gorillaz singles chronology | |||||||||||||
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"Dirty Harry" is a song from British alternative rock virtual band band Gorillaz' second studio album Demon Days, released as the third single from the album on 21 November 2005.
The single peaked at #6 in the UK. Earlier that year, the song released as a promotional single on iTunes. An early version of "Dirty Harry" titled "I Need a Gun" was included on Damon Albarn's album Democrazy. On 8 December 2005 it was announced that "Dirty Harry" had been nominated for a Grammy under the category "Urban/Alternative Performance", but was beaten by Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley's "Welcome to Jamrock".
The song's lyrics contain the line "The war is over so says the speaker with the flight suit on", a reference to George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" televised speech. Dirty Harry is also a 1971 film directed by Don Siegel. One of Gorillaz's earlier singles is the name of the actor who played this film's title character, Clint Eastwood. The single cover is similar to that of the film Full Metal Jacket.
The video was first released on 25 October 2005 to subscribers of the Gorillaz website mailing list. Like the video for "Clint Eastwood", the video for "Dirty Harry" references the film of the same name, and, not coincidentally, Clint Eastwood is the lead actor of the movie. "Dirty Harry" is one of the few Gorillaz music videos to be filmed on-location, the others being "Stylo" and "DoYaThing". They were going to use a computer animated desert, but it turned out simply flying the crew to the desert was cheaper and easier.