Empty And Abstracted And Full Of Rage...We Think Too Much And Feel Too Little

Gorillaz? Sparks? Together on one song? How has this not happened before?!

And, unsurprisingly, The Happy Dictator is a brilliant collaboration and an exciting teaser for ninth (ninth!) album The Mountain, coming in March 2026.

The song title and the thumbnail image of Murdoc for the 'official visualiser' are of course a reference to Charlie Chaplin's 1940 film - and magnum opus - The Great Dictator.

Whatever your opinion of Damon Albarn, it's difficult to deny that Gorillaz, created with Jamie Hewlett in 1998, has been a game changer in the music world, and still has the power to surprise over a quarter of a century later.

I'm looking forward to The Mountain as much as I did their self-titled debut back in 2001.

I am the one to give you life again 

I am the one to save your soul, AMEN!

As the shadows they are forming come and join me centre stage

Oh what a happy land we live in

If you are empty and abstracted and your broken heart is full of rage

Oh what a happy land, oh yeah

In a world of fiction I am a velvet glove 

Oh what a happy land we live in

I am your soul, your resurrection, I am the love

Oh what a happy land, oh yeah

So look out to the west now, see where the devil lies

Oh what a happy land we live in

It’s pharmakon is with you and your empire it is paralysed 

Oh what a happy land, oh yeah

I’ll propagate eternity and seal it with my kiss

Oh what a happy land we live in

So look into the coffin and let me grant your wish

Oh what a happy land, oh yeah

 

No more bad news 

So you can sleep well at night 

And the palace of your mind will be bright

Everything is slowing down yet everything is faster

Oh what a happy land we live in

While everyone is consuming I’ll save you from yourself

Oh what a happy land, oh yeah

 

Upon this world of fiction my love I will bestow

Oh what a happy land we live in

And as we march into the future happiness will grow

No more bad news 

So you can sleep well at night

And the palace of your mind will be bright

Everything is slowing down yet faster 

Consuming us I’ll save you from yourself

My love bestowed upon this world of fiction

March to the future happiness grows

Are you not better off than ever 

Are you not better off right now

When have you felt this way I ask you

When have you felt better off than right now

I am the one to give you life again

I am the one to save your soul, AMEN!

No more bad news………

(Mountains and rainbows , palaces of love)

So you can sleep well at night and palace of your mind will be bright

So you can sleep well at night and palace of your mind will be bright