Songfacts®:

• Damon Albarn wrote "Daft Wader" inspired by the Zoroastrian sky burials and public mourning of martyrs that he witnessed during a visit to Iran.
  
  Farewell martyr, whipping flame
  We will put up our red flags and cry
  In bright colored plastic chairs
  
  Though Albarn admitted martyrdom is a problematic aspect of the Shia and Sunni religion, he also prized seeing entire communities peacefully sitting together, drinking fruit juice and coffee. "Because it's always kind of invested with such drama and violence, their religious festivals - we're taught to fear them, and not understand it and not be sympathetic," he told Apple Music. "I'm very lucky: I've been to Iran, and it has its issues, but it's a very civilized place."
• "Daft Wader" is a track from The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows. Albarn took the album title from a line in John Clare's melancholic 19th century poem "Love and Memory."
  
  "Clare was a working-class poet, an interesting guy and really ahead of his time," Albarn told The Sun. "He even checked into a wellbeing clinic, 19th Century-style."
  
  "When I was much younger, my mum gave me an anthology because he was from Essex and we had spent a lot of time there," he continued. "I've had the book for ages and I'm a dipper into poetry. I underlined the 'nearer the fountain' line years ago because I thought it would be a wonderful springboard for something."
  
  "Love and Memory" is a reflection on grief, with imagery drawing on the wonder of nature. After Albarn's friend and collaborator Tony Allen passed away during the recording of the album, the poem really struck a chord with him. "I wanted the whole record to have a strong poetic feel," he said. "Its mood demands it."
• So why the "Daft Wader" song title? The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows originated as an orchestral project Albarn worked on in Iceland inspired by the view of the wintry oceanside. "There was a party in my house," he told Mojo magazine. "My mate, Einar Snorri, who is a filmmaker and also Iceland's most famous breakdancer back in the early '90s, wanted to demonstrate naked breakdancing. And then I joined in. Then we decided to go and try and get on to the island which is outside the house, because it was very low tide. We put some clothes back on, but we got stuck in the mud and shoes were lost. So, we were the daft waders."
  
  When the pandemic hit, Albarn retreated to his isolated farmhouse in South Devon, where he continued working on the album. When he added the lyrics, they had nothing to do with its original inspiration of "daft waders."
  
  "The song is actually about traveling to Iran. I don't know... I just make it up as I go along most of the time," he said.