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Do or Die (Super Furry Animals song)

"Do or Die"
Sfa-doordie.jpg
Single by Super Furry Animals
from the album Guerrilla
Released 17 January 2000
Format CD, MC, 7"
Recorded Real World Studios, Box, Wiltshire
Genre Alternative rock
Length 1:59
Label Creation Records
Writer(s) Super Furry Animals
Producer(s) Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals singles chronology
"Fire in My Heart"
(1999)
"Do or Die"
(2000)
"Ysbeidiau Heulog"
(2000)

"Do or Die" is the eleventh single by Super Furry Animals. It was the last single to be taken from the Guerrilla album and was the band's last release for Creation Records. The track reached number 20 in the UK Singles Chart after its release on 17 January 2000. The group had originally wanted to release "Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home)" as the final single from Guerilla but Creation instead chose "Do or Die", a decision which the band claimed not to understand.

Although "Do or Die" features "daft lyrics", its name was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India speech which called for Indians to "Do or Die" to end British Imperial rule in the country. Critical reaction was largely positive with the song being named 'Single of the Week' by the Melody Maker and appearing at number 55 in the NME's single of the year list for 2000 despite an earlier claim by the magazine that there was "no need whatsoever" to release the track as a single. The music video for "Do or Die" was directed by Jake & Jim and features live action footage of the group's heads on brightly coloured cartoon bodies.

According to Gruff Rhys "Do or Die" has a "ridiculously positive outlook" and was written in an attempt to "kickstart [the band] back into gear" after a bad period in the singer's life. The track is a "driving song" and features sampled car noises so that "even if you're not in a car it feels like you are". Although Rhys has called the track a "dumb pop song" with "really daft" lyrics, he has also claimed that the title was inspired by the Quit India speech made by Mahatma Gandhi on 8 August 1942 at the Gowalia Tank in Bombay in which Gandhi called for his countrymen to "Do or Die" and use non-violent resistance to end British Imperial rule in India. Rhys has stated that he feels the fact that "five-year-olds" can jump up and down to the song, singing "Gandhi lyrics", is important, as it contrasts with the "self-important ... pompous" lyrics of singers such as Jim Morrison and Robert Plant. The track was recorded in the middle of 1998 at Real World Studios, Box, Wiltshire, along with the rest of Guerrilla, and was produced by Super Furry Animals.


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