Songfacts®:

• Blur frontman Damon Albarn wrote "Avalon" after he made the decision to relocate from the bustling city of London to the serene countryside of Devon, England. The song is about coming to terms with a quieter life of solitude and the introspection that such a move brings. Speaking to Consequence in July 2023, Albarn elaborated: "'Avalon' is the most relatable to where I live now, in the deep countryside, but near the sea. Just this whole idea that you make that decision to relocate and once you find yourself there on a dark night where there's no light whatsoever and nobody in a two-mile radius, you have to be at peace with yourself. You created this fantasy world, so you have to be at peace within it. Otherwise, what's the point?"
• Avalon is a mythical island from the legend of King Arthur. It's believed to be the place where the sword of Excalibur was forged. It's also said to be the destination where Arthur was taken to recover after being gravely wounded at the Battle of Camlann.
  
  Other artists who have visited Avalon in their songs: Roxy Music, Kenny Loggins, and Bad Religion!
• The hand-drawn official visualizer for "Avalon" was directed by Los Angeles-based filmmaker Fons Schiedon. The illustration depicts a majestic castle with warplanes soaring overhead, intricately referencing the verse:
  
  Then gray-painted airplanes fly over
  On their way to war
  And I'm dialing in, I'm dialing out
  There's darkness at the door
• "Avalon" is the penultimate song on Blur's ninth album, The Ballad of Darren. The album cover features a photograph taken in 2004 by British documentarian Martin Parr showing a solitary man swimming in Gourock Outdoor Pool in Scotland. In September 2014, The Guardian identified the swimmer as Ian Galt. "I was entirely unaware of this photograph being taken: I only found out about it years later, when a friend saw it in an exhibition in Glasgow," Galt revealed. "The colors work beautifully - that gray against that aquamarine - and the photograph captures something of our Scottish eccentricity: the storm clouds and the rain, and the eccentric local who decided to go swimming when no one else would."