Galvanize (song)

"Galvanize" is a song by British electronic music duo the Chemical Brothers featuring vocals by American rapper Q-Tip. It was released on 22 November 2004 as the first single from their fifth studio album, Push the Button (2005).

The song peaked at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart on 23 January 2005. It was the Chemical Brothers' highest-charting single in their native United Kingdom since "Hey Boy Hey Girl", which had also reached No. 3 in 1999. The song peaked at No. 1 in Greece and Spain. In Australia, it was ranked No. 65 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004.

Composition
The track features a distinct Moroccan Chaabi music string sample from Najat Aatabou's 1992 song "Hadi Kedba Bayna" ("This Lie is Obvious" in Moroccan Arabic). The main hook of the song is in time signature, while the rest is in. The track also features rapping by Q-Tip (member of A Tribe Called Quest). In part of the song, it is played a sample from the duo's first single "Leave Home", released in 1995.

Critical reception
Pitchfork Media's Scott Plagenhoef stated the song along with "The Boxer" "harks back to the duo's early B-Boy/techno days" but missed "the ferocity and sub-bass rattlings of their earlier cousins, and here play second fiddle to unremarkable verses and nasally vocals".

It won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in February 2006.

Music video
The music video was shot in Málaga, Spain, and directed by Adam Smith. It involves three North African boys wearing clown face paint, who secretly go out but are blocked while walking in the porch by a group of boys slightly older than them, towards whom at one moment one of the three boys shows a vulgar hand gesture, after which all three run away being chased by the group but they keep themselves safe by going up into a bus, mocking the older boys from inside the mean of transport, which the group did not take. After going out from the bus and made some walking in the city the three enter covertly into a club named "Lyceo" during a krumping dance battle. One of the boys starts dancing in the battle, but all three are caught and taken away by the police afterwards. The name of one of these boys is "Bilal", according to his father's line at the beginning of the video (بِلالْ! اطفأ النورْ ونامْ, literally "Bilal! Turn off the light and go to sleep"). Except for the scenes in the club, the entire video is shot in black-and-white.

Track listings

 * UK CD1
 * 1) "Galvanize"
 * 2) "Rize Up"


 * UK CD2
 * 1) "Galvanize"
 * 2) "Galvanize" (extended version)
 * 3) "Electronic Battle Weapon 7"
 * 4) "Galvanize" (video)


 * UK and US 12-inch single
 * A. "Galvanize" (extended version)
 * B. "Electronic Battle Weapon 7"


 * Australia CD single
 * 1) "Galvanize"
 * 2) "Galvanize" (extended version)
 * 3) "Electronic Battle Weapon 7"


 * US CD single
 * 1) "Galvanize" (extended version)
 * 2) "Rize Up"
 * 3) "Electronic Battle Weapon 7"


 * Japanese CD EP
 * 1) "Galvanize" (single edit) – 4:27
 * 2) "Galvanize" (extended version) – 7:31
 * 3) "Galvanize" (Abe Duque remix) – 7:32
 * 4) "Rize Up" – 4:05
 * 5) "Electronic Battle Weapon 7" – 7:26
 * 6) "Galvanize" (video)