Info → Bullet Boy
The Front Cover Of The Bullet Boy Soundtrack Release.
UK Release: 25th April 2005 (Bullet Boy EP)
Track Duration: 04:08
Formats: CD, Digital. (Collected) View Discography Entry.
Written By: Robert Del Naja and Neil Davidge
Produced By: Robert Del Naja and Neil Davidge
Keyboards By: Robert Del Naja and Neil Davidge
Guitar By: Neil Davidge
Back Vocals: Neil Davidge
Recorded and Mixed By: Lee Shephard
The song Bullet Boy was composed as part of a film-length soundtrack for a British indie film called Bullet Boy. Massive Attack was commissioned by the film's director Saul Dibb who was a fan of the band's music.
The song itself as well as the entire score were done over a three week period in the Summer of 2004. This was done soon after work had already finished on the Danny the Dog soundtrack, making Bullet Boy, the second full length soundtrack project Massive Attack would work on.
Both the film and accompanying soundtrack were released in April 2005 in the UK. The soundtrack (totaling just over 30 minutes of instrumental music) was only ever released as a digital download to iTunes and other similar online services. The title track of the soundtrack would receive a physical release a year later as part of Collected.
Massive Attack's co-producer of the time, Neil Davidge featured as a backing vocalist on the Bullet Boy track.
This is the first Massive Attack song to feature Neil Davidge on vocals, albeit as a backing vocalist. He would not reappear as a backing vocalist until 2007, on the U.N.K.L.E/Massive Attack collaboration Twilight.
The working name for the song originally was "Bullet In The Wrong Place".
In the leadup to its release it was hoped by 3D that the Bullet Boy track would be released as a physical single release in aid of gun victims charities, something which didn't materialize.
The Bullet Boy track has never been performed live by Massive Attack.
A rare example of Massive Attack reusing a sample that they had previously sampled before. In this case, the familiar beat of fusion jazz player Les McCann's "Sometimes I Cry", which Massive Attack had sampled before on Teardrop.
Saul Dibb on Massive Attack's involvement on the Bullet Boy Soundtrack – “I felt the film needed music that would contrast with the source material (hip hop, reggae, soul etc) but also feel contemporary and fresh without imposing itself too heavily on the film. We all believed they would be able to do this” [Bullet Boy PR - January 2005]
Blue... everyday Blue... everyday Blue... everyday Blue... Bruised from another place Everyday Takes grace... And the air's still warm... From a bullet in the wrong place You're still moving I'm still wounded From the speed Never leave so free (Free) I still stare... From the glare... (From the glare) Of the last stare Bruised... from another place Everything Takes grace... And the air's still warm...
