"No Distance Left to Run" | ||||||||||||||
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Single by Blur | ||||||||||||||
from the album 13 | ||||||||||||||
Released | 15 November 1999 | |||||||||||||
Format | 12" vinyl, cassette, 2 x CD, DVD | |||||||||||||
Recorded | 1998 | |||||||||||||
Genre | Art rock | |||||||||||||
Length | 3:27 | |||||||||||||
Label | EMI, Food Records | |||||||||||||
Writer(s) | Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Dave Rowntree, and Alex James | |||||||||||||
Producer(s) | William Orbit | |||||||||||||
Blur singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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"No Distance Left to Run" is a song by Blur. It is on their 1999 album 13 and was also released as the third and final single from the album, reaching number 14 in the UK Singles Chart. It is widely understood to refer to Blur vocalist Damon Albarn's split from long-term partner Justine Frischmann.
Damon Albarn says that he is affected by this song: "It upsets me, that song. It upset me singing it. Doing that vocal upset me greatly. To sing that lyric I really had to accept that that was the end of something in my life. It's amazing when you do have the guts to do that with your work, because it don't half help you." The song's title is also the title of a documentary about the band, which was released in cinemas in January 2010.
The promotional video directed by Thomas Vinterberg is notable for using night-vision cameras to capture all four members of the band asleep in their respective beds. A DVD version was also released that featured a short documentary about the making of the video. Alex James reportedly dreamt that he "was in Germany in a karaoke bar. I think I was a leopard for a minute."
The B-side "Beagle 2", was sent aboard Beagle 2, an unsuccessful British landing spacecraft that formed part of the European Space Agency's 2003 Mars Express mission. The DVD edition of the single features a video of footage of the Beagle 2 over which plays "Far Out (Beagle 2 remix)", a full band version of a song originally from Parklife, using an outtake from the Parklife sessions.