Life in a Northern Town

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"Life In A Northern Town"

Single by The Dream Academy
from the album The Dream Academy
Released	1985 (UK)
Format	vinyl record (7" and 12"), cassette tape and CD
Recorded	1984
Genre	Rock
Length	4:19
Label	Warner Bros. / Blanco Y Negro
Producer(s)	David Gilmour and Nick Laird-Clowes
Chart positions
#15 (UK) #7 (USA)
The Dream Academy singles chronology
- -	"Life In A Northern Town" (1985)	"The Edge Of Forever" (1985)

"Life in a Northern Town" is a song by The Dream Academy, a British folk rock group. The song was the opening track to their 1985 debut album, The Dream Academy. Reaching #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1986, it was their biggest song.

The melancholy folk guitar line is evocative of the beginning to the Beach Boys' "California Girls." Every note in the song sets the mood for the lyrics, which are references to Tanworth-in-Arden (England) native Nick Drake, who died of an antidepressant overdose in 1974.

The Dream Academy intended the song as a tribute to Drake. The "Northern Town" in the song is clearly Drake's hometown, and the references to the young Sinatra figure who lures the people of the village to "sit on the stony ground and listen" is unmistakably Drake. The end of the song, where rain falls on the town and the Sinatra figure leaves for good on a train references Drake's death.

The song harkens back to the wistful folk of the 1960s. A dance remix of the song, "Sunchyme" was released in 1997 by Dario G.

There were two different versions of the Music Video. The first one was made in 1984 and was filmed near Halifax in Yorkshire, UK. It was directed by Tim Pope [1]. The second version was filmed in 1985 and was directed by Leslie Libman and Larry Williams [2]. It was filmed in and around Newcastle upon Tyne with some scenes filmed in Manchester in the UK and in the USA. The American scenes were filmed near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the towns of Ambridge and Aliquippa. The video featured footage from one of their first TV appearances, on the British music show, The Tube [3]. Of worthy note is that the second version is actually shorter than the first version and the actual song.