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"Country House" is a song by English alternative rock band Blur. It was released as the lead single from the band's fourth studio album The Great Escape on 14 August 1995. Released on the same day as the Oasis single "Roll with It" – in a chart battle dubbed the "Battle of Britpop" – "Country House" reached number one in the UK Singles Chart (the first of two Blur singles to reach number one, the second being 1997's "Beetlebum").[2] The song is the band's best-selling single, with over 540,000 copies sold as of May 2014.[3]

"Country House"
CD single cover
Single by Blur
from the album The Great Escape
B-side"One Born Every Minute"
Released14 August 1995 (1995-08-14)[1]
Recorded1995
GenreBritpop
Length3:57
LabelFood
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Stephen Street
Blur singles chronology
"End of a Century"
(1994)		 "Country House"
(1995)		 "The Universal"
(1995)
Music video
"Country House" on YouTube

Background and writing


In an interview for the South Bank Show, Damon Albarn explained that it was inspired by former Blur manager Dave Balfe, who left Blur's label Food Records and bought a house in the country.


The house of David Balfe


David Balfe moved to The Bury[4] in 1994 at Church End, Barton-le-Clay in southern Bedfordshire off the A6. The house had 4 acres of land, nine bedrooms with five en-suite. He moved with his wife Helen and their children aged 2 and 4, when he was 36.

The house was advertised in 2015 for £2m. It was Grade 2 listed in February 1975.[5][6]


Content


The song is about a man who retires to an expensive country house to escape the pressures of the city. The cover art features a horizontally-flipped image of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria.[7]


Release and "battle" with Oasis


"Country House" received a great deal of media attention when Blur's label Food Records moved the original release date to the same day as Oasis's "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, dubbed the "Battle of Britpop". In the end, "Country House" won the "battle", attaining the No. 1 spot while "Roll with It" came in at No. 2.[8][9]


Music video


Pyrton Manor in Oxfordshire, the setting for external shots in the music video
Pyrton Manor in Oxfordshire, the setting for external shots in the music video

The music video for "Country House" was directed by artist Damien Hirst, who had attended Goldsmiths, University of London, with members of Blur. It features the band and a businessman (played by Keith Allen) in a flat with the band playing a board game called "Escape from the Rat Race" before they become trapped in the game where they are with farm animals and other people before appearing in the flat again. The band appears in the video alongside British comic actor Matt Lucas and models Sara Stockbridge, Jo Guest and Vanessa Upton. It features pastiches of—or tributes to—Benny Hill (Lucas' doctor 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". It was nominated for Best Video in the 1996 BRIT Awards.

The external shots of the video are at Pyrton Manor, Pyrton, in east Oxfordshire, west of junction 6 of the M40, near the B4009 and Watlington. It is now home of Vogue writer Laura Bailey, and is the former home of the 1956 High Sheriff of Oxfordshire. It is Elizabethan, built around the start of the 17th century.


Promotion and release


On 20 August 1995 the charts were officially announced. (The Chart Show announced the winner the day before, though the show's chart was unofficial) "Country House" topped the UK Singles Chart, selling 270,000 copies, compared to 220,000 sold by "Roll with It", which came in at number two. Albarn himself was surprised that "Country House" topped the charts. He told NME, "I sort of believed all the papers, including NME, who told me Oasis were going to win."[10]


Track listings


All music composed by Albarn, Coxon, James and Rowntree. All lyrics composed by Albarn.


Production credits



Charts and certifications



Cover versions


The song was covered by The Wurzels on their 2002 album Never Mind the Bullocks, ‘Ere is The Wurzels[30] and Out of the Blue on their 2005 album Freefall.[31]


References



Footnotes


  1. "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 12 August 1995. p. 39. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  2. "Blur: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  3. Myers, Justin (2 May 2014). "Official Charts Flashback 1994: Blur – Parklife". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  4. Companies House
  5. Historic England 1975
  6. Listed buildings
  7. Smith, Oliver (24 February 2016). "54 locations that defined Britpop". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  8. Wilde, Jon (8 May 2007). "Blur and Oasis ready to feud again like it's 1995" – via www.theguardian.com.
  9. "7 reasons why Oasis should have won the Britpop battle of 1995". 14 August 2015.
  10. "Cockney revels". NME 26 August 1995.
  11. "Blur – Country House". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  12. "Hits of the World – Eurochart Hot 100". Billboard. Vol. 107, no. 48. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 2 December 1995. p. 49. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  13. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 12, no. 37. 16 September 1995. p. 16. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  14. "Blur: Country House" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat.
  15. "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (30.9. '95 – 6.10. '95)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 30 September 1995. p. 24. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  16. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Country House". Irish Singles Chart.
  17. "Blur – Country House" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  18. "Blur – Country House" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  19. "Blur – Country House". Top 40 Singles.
  20. "Blur – Country House". VG-lista.
  21. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  22. "Blur – Country House". Singles Top 100.
  23. "Blur – Country House". Swiss Singles Chart.
  24. "Music & Media 1995 in Review – Year End Sales Charts" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 12, no. 51/52. 23 December 1995. p. 14. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  25. "Árslistinn 1995". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 2 January 1996. p. 16. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  26. "Årslista Singlar, 1995" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  27. "Top 100 Singles 1995". Music Week. 13 January 1996. p. 9.
  28. "IFPI Norsk platebransje Trofeer 1993–2011" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  29. "British single certifications – Blur – Country House". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  30. "Cover versions of Country House by The Wurzels | SecondHandSongs". secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  31. "Cover versions of Country House by Out of the Blue [Oxford] | SecondHandSongs". secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved 30 August 2022.

На других языках

- [en] Country House (song)

[es] Country House

«Country House» —en español: «Casa de campo»— es una canción de la banda inglesa de rock alternativo Blur. Fue lanzado como el primer sencillo del cuarto álbum de estudio de la banda, The Great Escape, el 14 de agosto de 1995. Publicado el mismo día que el sencillo de Oasis "Roll With It" - en una batalla de listas apodada "La batalla del Britpop" - "Country House" alcanzó el número uno en la lista de singles del Reino Unido (el primero de dos sencillos de Blur en alcanzar el número uno, el segundo fue "Beetlebum" de 1997).[3] La canción es el sencillo más vendido de la banda, con más de 540.000 copias vendidas en mayo de 2014.[4]


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