"Beetlebum" is a song by English alternative rock band Blur. It was released on 20 January 1997 as the lead single from the band's eponymous fifth album, Blur (1997). Written about Blur frontman Damon Albarn's experiences with heroin, the song features Beatles-influenced music and a mood that Albarn described as "sleepy" and "sexy." Despite fears of the song's uncommercial nature, the single debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Blur's second track to reach the top of the charts. It has since appeared on several Blur compilations. Background "Beetlebum" was inspired by heroin and the drug experiences Damon Albarn had with his then-girlfriend, Justine Frischmann of Elastica. Albarn reflected, "That whole period of a lot of people's lives was fairly muddied by heroin for a lot of people. And it's sort of, it's in that place. And a lot of stuff was at that time." He has stated in an interview with MTV that the song describes a complicated emotion, sort of "sleepy" and sort of "sexy". Rolling Stone hypothesises that the song's title is a reference to the phrase "chasing the beetle," further linking the song to Albarn's experimentation with drugs. Albarn commented, "I'm not sure what a Beetlebum is. It's just a word I sang when I played the song to myself. I asked the others if I should change it, but they said no. If it felt right, we decided that we wouldn't tidy it up like we've done in the past. It's about drugs basically." Producer Stephen Street later commented, "I didn't know Beetlebum was about heroin. I thought it was just something he’d made up!" Bassist Alex James explained of the song, "I think 'Beetlebum' is representative of the fact that as the band's got older, the songs have become more simple. Now we can play them with a lot more feeling." Street similarly pointed to the song as a pivotal one for the band, commenting, "Listening back to Damon Albarn’s vocals on 'Beetlebum' for the first time, I had tears in my eyes, thinking: 'This is special'." The song has been described as a "Beatles tribute" by several publications; Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic wrote that the song "[ran] through the White Album in the space of five minutes." Release Because of its stylistic differences from Blur's previous singles, "Beetlebum" was expected to be a commercial disappointment. As James recalls, "When