Country House (song)

For information on English country estates, see English country house.

"Country House"
Song

"Country House" is a song by British band Blur and is featured on their fourth studio album, The Great Escape. It was released on 14 August 1995, as the lead single from that album (see 1995 in British music). "Country House" was the first of Blur's singles to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart (a feat only achieved once more by the band, with "Beetlebum").

The song is about a man who retires to an expensive country house to escape the pressures of the city. In an interview for the South Bank Show Damon Albarn explained that it was inspired by former Blur manager Dave Balfe. After the song's release, two other people connected with it bought country houses: in 2005, the video's director Damien Hirst bought Toddington Manor, a Grade I country house in Gloucestershire, and in 1998, Noel Gallagher of Oasis moved to the countryside.

Promotional material

The cover art featues an image of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria (the image is horizontally flipped).

The video for the single was directed by artist Damien Hirst. It features Keith Allen as a businessman trapped in a giant board game called 'Escape from the Rat Race'. The band appears in the video alongside British comic actors Matt Lucas and Sara Stockbridge and model Jo Guest. It features pastiches of - or tributes to - Benny Hill (Lucas' milkman chasing scantily clad young women culminating in the entry of the milk van of Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)) and Queen's 1975 video for "Bohemian Rhapsody" (the sequence where the band members are singing in the dark).

It was nominated for Best Video in the 1996 BRIT Awards.

Blur vs Oasis

Main article: The Battle of Britpop

The song received a great deal of attention when Blur's label Food Records moved the original release date to be on the same day as Oasis' "Roll With It". The British media had already reported an intense rivalry between the two bands and this clash of releases was seen as a battle for the number one spot. "Country House" won Blur the battle ("Roll with It" coming in at No. 2) but they lost the war as The Great Escape was beaten by Oasis' album (What's the Story) Morning Glory on sales. Incidentally, "Country House" features the lines "He's got morning glory/And life's a different story" which is largely assumed to have been a jab at Oasis. However, Blur actually recorded the song before Oasis had completed, let alone released, the Morning Glory album. With dance act Jamiroquai also having recorded a song named "Morning Glory" in the mid-1990s, it is possible that may have been the influence behind that line, while some have suggested that the line was a jibe at Julian Cope, who was known for using LSD. It may, however, simply have been a reference to waking up with an erection (an event for which "morning glory" is a British slang expression).

Track listings

• 7" FOOD63

1. "Country House"
2. "One Born Every Minute"

• Cassette TCFOOD63

1. "Country House"
2. "One Born Every Minute"

• CD1 CDFOOD63

1. "Country House"
2. "One Born Every Minute"
3. "To The End" (with Françoise Hardy)

• CD2 CDFOODS63: Blur Recorded Live From Mile End Stadium, 17 June 1995

1. "Country House" (live)
2. "Girls & Boys" (live)
3. "Parklife" (live)
4. "For Tomorrow" (live)

Legacy

• A giant candlestick, used as a prop in the video for "Country House" was sold on eBay in March, 2005 for £92 (though it had been valued at up to £500).