59 & 60. ‘Daisy Bell’ & ‘Let’s All Go Down The Strand’

Both B-sides of ‘Sunday Sunday’ limited CD ‘The Sunday Sunday Popular Community Song CD’, released 4/10/93. Produced by Blur.

By now Blur were bent on forging a new identity based on a loathing of ways ‘slacker’ and ‘grunge’ – which exalted slovenliness in dress and outlook – were infecting British music. Damon had become enchanted by music hall, and all of Blur were keen on championing British cultural idioms. The summer of ’93 was also the height of ‘format madness’, which saw labels desperate to find music to fill double-pack CDs. Andy Ross says: “It was like the nuclear arms race. You didn’t like it, but you were not going to stop while everyone else was doing it.”

When it came to ‘Sunday Sunday’, it was decided to try these old standards for the ‘limited edition’ CD double-pack B-sides. They were recorded one Sunday at Maison Rouge, and among the motley throng of singers in the studio was Justine Frischmann. A third song, ‘For Old Times Sake’, was recorded, but Damon came in early one day to wipe it from the tape. Musically lightweight, these are interesting insights into the band’s psyche of mid-1993.