Peak
32
Weeks
23
Score
2,273
Chart Year
2015
An official music video for "Budapest" was first released onto YouTube on 21 April 2014. It consists of a large crowd of people all with different styles and accessories all standing motionless together in a tight-knit crowd, occasionally being inter-cut with footage of one of them doing something minor like shifting slightly where they stand, one of them sneezing gaining the attention of everyone around and George playing his guitar and singing to the camera with a smile. As the video goes on, the people start to move and interact by passing their accessories around, a group of three young men having one of them bite into a very spicy chili pepper, a party attendee in a sash and tiara talking on the phone to someone, the crowd looking up together and putting on 3-D glasses, all inter-cut with George crowd-surfing them and playing and singing to the camera again. As the video starts to come to an end, George begins to crowd-surf standing up instead, taking off his guitar and passing it down to join all the other accessories being passed around, this time with people interacting more and dancing together. The video ends with George singing with his guitar standing in the again-motionless crowd; when the song ends he simply stops and becomes motionless too. In a small epilogue, some members of the crowd are all on the floor silently cheering, laughing and clapping together
Several songs on George Ezra's debut album relate to a trip he made to Europe where he went backpacking for a couple of months. However, despite titling this tune after the Hungarian capital, he never made it to the city. Ezra explained to The Sun: "What happened with Budapest is that I stopped off in Sweden, when the Eurovision Song Contest final was on, by chance. I'd been put in touch with these girls who lived in Malmo, so I was like, 'Yeah, all right.' And then the Eurovision final was on in the park and we got drunk and I missed my train to Budapest." When George Ezra played a gig at Budapest as part of his Ezra Express tour, he should have been celebrating the Hungarian city's inspiration for his breakout single. Instead it made him realize that he'd missed a trick. "I was a bit underwhelmed," he told Q magazine. "I thought, 'If only I based this song in a Caribbean town, we could have traveled there instead.'" Ezra explained the song's meaning to American Songwriter magazine. "On that trip, the city of Budapest was the only place I planned to visit that I didn't make it to," he said. "When you look at the song lyrically, it's just a list of things I have that I'd give up for somebody." Wanted On Voyage rose to #1 on the UK album chart fourteen weeks after its release. The song topped the singles chart in several countries, including Austria, the Czech Republic and New Zealand. George Ezra told the Daily Telegraph: "It was my first attempt to write a love song, and it uses the first three guitar chords I ever learned. There's a lot to be said for that simplicity." The Wanted on Voyage album title is a reference to the stamp often put on luggage back in the days of steamboat travel to indicate that the passenger wanted to keep the luggage close by. Ezra was introduced to the phrase via Michael Bond's Paddington Bear stories; the phrase was stamped on Paddington's suitcase. When Ezra performed this song and "Blame It on Me" on Saturday Night Live in March 2015, he wasn't exactly familiar with the show. The English singer admitted to Billboard magazine: "When the cast was rehearsing, I told our chaperone, 'These sketches are great! They should do them every week!' She was like, 'That's the premise of the show.'"
My house in Budapest, my My hidden treasure chest Golden grand piano My beautiful Castillo You You I'd leave it all My acres of a land I have achieved It may be hard for you to Stop and believe But for you You I'd leave it all Oh, for you You I'd leave it all Give me one good reason Why I should never make a change And, baby, if you hold me Then all of this will go away My many artifacts The list goes on If you just say the words, I'll I'll up and run Oh, to you You I'd leave it all Oh, for you Ooh I'd leave it all Give me one good reason Why I should never make a change And, baby, if you hold me Then all of this will go away Give me one good reason Why I should never make a change Baby, if you hold me Then all of this will go away My friends and family They don't understand They fear they'll lose so much If you take my hand But for you You I'd lose it all Oh, for you You I'd lose it all Give me one good reason Why I should never make a change And, baby, if you hold me Then all of this will go away Give me one good reason Why I should never make a change And, baby, if you hold me Then all of this will go away My house in Budapest, my My hidden treasure chest Golden grand piano My beautiful Castillo You You I'd leave it all Oh, for you You I'd leave it all
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feb 14, 2015 | 81 | 45 |
| 2 | Feb 21, 2015 | 88 | 38 |
| 3 | Feb 28, 2015 | 92 | 34 |
| 4 | Mar 7, 2015 | 94 | 32 |
| 5 | Mar 14, 2015 | 85 | 41 |
| 6 | Mar 21, 2015 | 78 | 48 |
| 7 | Mar 28, 2015 | 72 | 54 |
| 8 | Apr 4, 2015 | 62 | 64 |
| 9 | Apr 11, 2015 | 48 | 78 |
| 10 | Apr 18, 2015 | 46 | 80 |
| 11 | Apr 25, 2015 | 43 | 83 |
| 12 | May 2, 2015 | 45 | 81 |
| 13 | May 9, 2015 | 42 | 84 |
| 14 | May 16, 2015 | 37 | 89 |
| 15 | May 23, 2015 | 34 | 92 |
| 16 | May 30, 2015 | 32 | 94 |
| 17 | Jun 6, 2015 | 35 | 91 |
| 18 | Jun 13, 2015 | 32 | 94 |
| 19 | Jun 20, 2015 | 34 | 92 |
| 20 | Jun 27, 2015 | 36 | 90 |