Songfacts®:

• Duffy explained to Uncut magazine March 2008 about this tale of yearning for a better place: "Rockferry is quite a rough place on the border between Wales and Liverpool, but the song isn't about the place, it's symbolic of struggle. If you're trying to reach some point in your life, whatever it is, Rockferry is that point."
• Duffy's record label Rough Trade placed the young Welsh singer with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler. She told Mojo magazine February 2008 about her collaboration with Butler: "I knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I was frustrated. He showed me how to cut away everything I didn't like about myself and get to the bottom of who I am. The result was 'Rockferry.'"
• Butler added in a Q Magazine February 2008 interview: "Jeanette (Lee, Duffy's manager) had a bee in her bonnet that this was something that was so good that nobody could put their finger on. So I said, let's meet up and see what happens. The only thing I did was push her. Because more than anything, she wants to be a star."
• In the same Mojo interview, Duffy elaborated on her self-discovery when making the album: "Bernard was the first to call me a soul singer and that opened up so many avenues. It's been a real education making this record. I've done lots of homework, discovered Millie Jackson, Doris Duke, The Supremes, Rita Wright, Bettye Swann, Candi Staton. They inspire me down to the bone, to every inch of my soul, they're so painfully expressive, so resonating. That's what I want to be. That's how I found out who I was."
• This was the first song Duffy wrote on the album and the first she ever wrote with Bernard Butler.
• Duffy in The Sun February 29, 2008: "I don't know where I got the word 'Rockferry' from but I was subliminally aware of it as it's on the border between Wales and England. I thought it resembled something strong. It's a song about struggle. I wanted it to be big-sounding, quite noisy and epic, but I remember not really loving that song when I first heard it. You don't write a song about struggle then listen to it the next day and forget everything you were feeling. Now that I'm going out and performing it live, I enjoy the song as a song. I'm quite detached from it."
• Rockferry was the best selling album in the UK in 2008.
• Duffy triumphed at the 2009 BRIT Awards, winning the Best British Album award for her Rockferry set. She also won BRITs for Best British female and British breakthrough act. Duffy performed "Warwick Avenue" at the ceremony.