Songfacts®:

• "Drifter's Prayer" is a haunting narrative woven through spoken-word and melancholic melody. It began with a poem written by The Coral's keyboardist, Nick Power, that was a eulogy to a fading world whispered by a weathered soul.
  
  "I had the idea of this fairground worker looking back on his life, sort of like a eulogy to the old traveling carnival world and its customs. How those people were their own community, constantly on the move, drifting through England," he said. "And this person coming to terms with the modern world leaving him behind, in a way."
• The Coral envisioned the poem coming to life as a murder ballad, but with a twist. The music, penned by James Skelly, took on an "acoustic, country-style riff," creating a melancholic foundation for the story to unfold. Yet, something was missing - a voice that embodied the drifter's seasoned weariness and life-worn wisdom.
  
  Enter John Simm, the acclaimed actor (Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, the Master in Doctor Who, and DS Roy Grace in Grace). As Skelly explains, they simply messaged him, hoping for a chance.
  
  But why Simm? "He'd already been to a few gigs, and he said 'yes' straight away," said Skelly. "Nailed it perfectly. He's a pro."
• Simm nailed his narration in three takes. "I was in Manchester, drove over and it was a lovely afternoon," Simm told Uncut magazine. "James was strumming this gorgeous guitar and he read the words to me. My mum's from Blackpool and I spent a lot of time there as a kid, so I can remember those fairground guys and I played him like a character. I could see him slightly old fag dangling from his lips and totally ripped even though he probably wasn't much older than us. Everyone was always scared s--tless of them. But playing him was easy, because it was so wonderfully written and evocative."
• The Coral recorded "Drifter's Prayer" for Holy Joe's Coral Island Medicine Show. The album was released on September 8, 2023, on the same day as Sea Of Mirrors, on black vinyl, CD, and cassette. It bridges the gap between The Coral's 2021 double album, Coral Island, and the surreal Italian spaghetti western soundtrack, Sea Of Mirrors.