For Tomorrow - 2012 Remaster

Blur frontman Damon Albarn wrote "For Tomorrow" while staying at his childhood home in Colchester, Essex, on Christmas Eve in 1992. It'd been a challenging few months for Blur. The band was heavily in debt and faced the imminent threat of being dropped by their label, Food Records, due to disappointing sales of their debut album, Leisure. Additionally, they'd recently returned from an unsuccessful tour of the US, where their British-centric sound struggled to resonate with American audiences amid the popularity of grunge music. In response, Albarn set about crafting this Kinks-esque tribute to London, with the lyrics subtly referencing the hardships he and his bandmates were going through at the time: He's a 20th-century boy With his hands on the rails Trying not to be sick again And holding on for tomorrow London ice cracks on a seamless line He's hanging on for dear life And so we hold each other tightly And hold on for tomorrow

According to Albarn, the opening line, "He's a 20th-century boy," was inspired by the song "Twentieth Century Englishman" from the album Well at Least It's British by English novelty artist Alan Klein. In an interview with Q in 1995, Albarn elaborated on how the album influenced his creative process: "I discovered it quite by accident about five years ago in a charity shop, and it was instrumental in me making Modern Life Is Rubbish, and changing, and getting an idea of my own self. It came out in about 1962. It predated everything."

David Balfe, the head of Food Records, was concerned about the lack of hit singles on Modern Life Is Rubbish. Consequently, Albarn took it upon himself to write this song and "Chemical World." Stephen Street, the producer of "For Tomorrow," told Uncut in 2009: "One day, Dave Balfe came in for a listen to the album and said, 'It's crap, it's commercial suicide. It'll sell to a few NME readers, and that's it.' They were pretty taken aback by his hostility, but it did make Damon go. 'F--k you,' and write two more cracking songs for the record."