Songfacts®:

• This song is about a wealthy man who lives a boring life in a mansion in the countryside. In an article in The Guardian published December 13, 2008, David Balfe, who was one of the owners of Blur's record label from 1983-1994, said: "I'd flogged the label and packed it all in as a 'professional cynic whose heart's not in it.' I was burned out. You've got to remember that the music business is full of great things and crap things. You can spend 18 months working on a record that doesn't even get released. And you spend your whole time arguing with people. When things aren't working, it's extremely painful. I felt it was all or nothing for me, so I moved to Bedfordshire.
  
  One day I popped back into the office in London and saw a demo for 'Blur - Country House.' I jokingly said, 'Oh, is that about me?' I don't think it's their greatest song but it's a good little pop song. The funny thing is Damon [Albarn] hadn't, and still hasn't, seen the house. I think he just had this idea. 'Oh, Balfey lives in this great house in the country now.' It was funny enough having it written about me in the first place, but then it became one of the biggest songs of the era because of the chart battle with Oasis's Roll With It. It's got a place in rock history. I'm quite proud of it, and flattered.
  
  When it came out my kids were six and four, and the song would come and they'd say, 'Oh, it's the song about Daddy.' My mates used to put it on in the village pub. Blur filmed the video in an Austrian palace and I told everyone that was my house. In reality the house isn't a grand house. It's a farmhouse that has acquired pretensions over the years. We'll probably move eventually. I'm starting a label again and I've started fantasizing about living in an ultra-modern apartment in London."
• Comedian Keith Allen and Matt Lucas from Little Britain both starred in the video for this song. The video was directed by Damien Hirst, the artist famous for his strange art of dead animals in jars.
• A candlestick from the video of this song sold on eBay for 92 pounds in March 2005, though it was estimated to be worth 500. >>>

  Suggestion credit:
  James - Gainford, England, for all above
• Blur's record company moved the release date of the single to be on the same day as Oasis' "Roll With It." At that time the bands were opponents in the so called "Battle of Britpop." Blur got an erstwhile victory when "Country House" reached #1 ("Roll With it" only reached #2) in the UK charts, but Oasis' album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? proved to be a much bigger success than The Great Escape.
• The single's cover is a picture of the Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany.
• The line, "He's got morning glory, and life's a different story" is often believed to be directed to Oasis, but the song was recorded before Oasis finished, let alone released their album. >>>

  Suggestion credit:
  Martin - Rostock, Germany, for above 3
• In the 2010 Blur rockumentary, No Distance Left To Run, Albarn revealed that it was his decision to release this single against Oasis' "Roll With It." He recalled: "Noel Gallagher used to take the p--s out of me constantly and it really, really hurt at the time. Oasis were like the bullies I had to put up with at school."
• Blur guitarist Graham Coxon despised the "Country House" video. It made me angry," he wrote in his 2022 memoir Verse, Chorus, Monster!, "because here I was, finally in a band, and the experience seemed to be getting cheapened by Page 3-type imagery, a revival of sexism and football hooliganism."