Life in a Northern Town
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| “Life In A Northern Town” | |||||
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| Single by The Dream Academy from the album The Dream Academy |
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| 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 | David Gilmour and Nick Laird-Clowes | ||||
| The Dream Academy singles chronology | |||||
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"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 hit.
The melancholy folk guitar line is evocative of the beginning to the Beach Boys' "California Girls." The lyrics 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[1]. The "Northern Town" in the song is often thought of as Drake's hometown despite Tanworth-in-Arden only being a village and not actually located in northern England (it is in the English Midlands, a few miles south of Solihull), and the references to the young Sinatra figure who lures the people of the village to "sit on the stony ground and listen" is supposedly Drake.[citation needed] It is possible that the London-based band confused Tanworth with Tamworth, a Staffordshire town some 30 miles northeast of the village (and also the hometown of singer-songwriter Julian Cope in his formative years). 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.[citation needed]
The song harkens back to the wistful folk of the 1960s and as such, also is a nod to the George Harrison song, "Life In a Northern Town" recorded by the Beatles.
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.
A dance track sampling the song, "Sunchyme" was released in 1997 by Dario G.
This song was used in King of the Hill's third season episode Wings of the Dope.
The song was adapted by a group called Jakaranda, whose only release was featured in the 1997 Disney film, The Parent Trap. The song was called "Never Let You Go", and was only ever released on the movie's soundtrack.
In October 2006, the song was ranked 731st out of 2006 songs voted for in the Triple M Essential 2006 Countdown.
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[edit] Country music version
The song was covered by country music duo Sugarland, along with Little Big Town and Jake Owen, on the Sugarland Change for Change Tour. The live performance was made into a music video for Country Music Television. This cover was also played live at the 2008 CMT Music Awards on April 14, 2008. On the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart dated for April 5, 2008, a recording of the live rendition debuted at #57; although not released as a single, the song received enough unsolicited airplay to reach #28 on the country charts.
The live performance will be included on the Deluxe Fan Edition of Sugarland's forthcoming album, Love on the Inside.
[edit] Track listing
7" Single
- Life in a Northern Town - 4:17
- Test Tape No. 3 - 5:01
12" Single
- Life in a Northern Town (Extended) - 5:19
- Test Tape No. 3 - 5:03
- Life in a Northern Town (7" mix) - 4:14
- Poised on the Edge of Forever - 3:32
