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* Albarn leaning out of a [[London bus]]
* Albarn leaning out of a [[London bus]]
* The band flying kites atop [[Primrose Hill]]
* The band flying kites atop [[Primrose Hill]]
* Pritchard from dirty sanchez appears in it.


The video ends with Albarn rolling down Primrose Hill with a girl.
The video ends with Albarn rolling down Primrose Hill with a girl.

Revision as of 11:48, 2 October 2009

This article is about the song by Blur. For the Superman series, see For Tomorrow (comic).
"For Tomorrow"
Song

"For Tomorrow" is a song by English alternative rock band Blur. It is the lead track to their second album, Modern Life Is Rubbish (the title appears in the lyrics). Released 19 April 1993 as the first single from the album, "For Tomorrow" charted at number 28 in the UK Singles Chart. The extended version of "For Tomorrow" was included in the band's compilation albums, Blur: The Best of, (being the only song from Modern Life Is Rubbish to be featured) and Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur.

Single background

In this period the band had gone on a tour of the USA which they greatly detested[citation needed], especially as the country was the home of grunge music and audiences were not receptive to their music. After that tour lead singer Damon Albarn started to write songs with a very British feel. This was one such song, written on Christmas Day 1992. David Balfe, the head of the band's record company, commissioned this song as the original album did not have any hit singles. The single cover of the two World War II fighter planes was used by the band as a sense of Britishness. [1]

Release and reception

The single was released without a 7" vinyl format, possibly to emphasise the importance of the six minute long 'Visit to Primrose Hill extended' version which appears on the 12" vinyl, cassette and CD1. CD2 however did feature the shorter 'single version'. The song charted at #28 in the UK in its first week of release, a position matched by Blur's next single, "Chemical World". This was the third lowest chart position the band reached in the UK, the previous single "Popscene" had reached #32 and "She's So High" in 1990 didn't make the Top 40, charting at #48. The song did not chart in any other countries.

The song received many more popular reviews than "Popscene".

Lyrical themes

The lyrics of the song are about London, and especially Primrose Hill, a hill in the borough of Camden, North London. From there one can see the whole of central London before them. The complete phrase from the song says "Take a drive to Primrose Hill // It's windy there, and the view's so nice". Part of the promotional video was also filmed at Primrose Hill.

The ending of the song has lyrics about a man, Jim, entering his house in Emperors' Gate, SW7 (Kensington). When Albarn's parents first moved to London, they lived in a flat nextdoor to The Beatles. In a 2005 interview Damon Albarn stated that he used Emperors' Gate in the lyrics because of this [2](13 Emperors' Gate was the first London-based home for the Lennons; they lived there in 1964 [3] ). He found it "romantic" that his parents lived right next to these people.

Increase in stature

Like Modern Life is Rubbish, the album this song appears on, "For Tomorrow" has increased in stature since its release. The song charted at number 15 in a Time Out poll about the best songs about London, the magazine labelled the track as an "indie anthem".[4] In addition, Mojo magazine chose this song in their "50 Greatest British Tracks Ever" list.[5]. In a blurtalk.com vote, For Tomorrow was voted fifth out of all of the band's singles, despite being the third lowest charting on its release [6].

Music video

The video, directed by Julien Temple, was filmed in a classic black and white style. This, backed with the front cover of the World War II fighter planes and the typical British clothing worn by Albarn in the video, shows that the band was going for a pro-British, anti-American record. The video was shot entirely in London. Some repeated scenes include:

The video ends with Albarn rolling down Primrose Hill with a girl.

Track listings

All songs credited to Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree

References

  1. ^ [1] Last accessed: 24 March 2007
  2. ^ www.timeout.com Best London songs "For Tomorrow" [2] Last accessed: 24 March 2007
  3. ^ Chris Ingham (2003). The Rough Guide to the Beatles. p. 336.
  4. ^ "The 50 best London songs". Time Out. Retrieved on 14 December 2008.
  5. ^ MOJO- Greatest British Tracks ever [3] Last accessed: 24 March 2007
  6. ^ www.blurtalk.com- Blur Singles vote [4] Last accessed: 24 March 2007
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