Driving Home for Christmas

"Driving Home for Christmas"
Single by Chris Rea
Released 1988
Format 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl, Cassette, CD
Genre Pop Rock
Length 4:01
Label Magnet
Writer(s) Chris Rea
Chris Rea singles chronology
"I Can Hear Your Heartbeat
(1988)"		 "Driving Home for Christmas"
(1988)		 "Working on It"
(1989)

"Driving Home for Christmas" is a single written by Chris Rea and released in December 1988 as a non-album single. The song peaked at #53 in the UK Single Chart in 1988, and re-entered the chart in 2007, peaking at #33. In 2000, Michael Ball released a version of the song for the album Christmas. [1][2]

In 1995 Saint Etienne covered it on their Xmas 95 EP, which was later released on the Christmas anthology A Glimpse of Stocking in 2011.

In 2009, twenty-one years after the song was first released, an original video was made in aid of Shelter; all proceeds were donated to the charity. Celebrities who featured in the video included Martin Shaw, Mike Read, David Hamilton, Kristian Digby, Gail Porter, Lizzie Cundy, Kenny Thomas, Carole Decker, Matt D’Angelo, Mark Brennan, Giles Vickers and Lionel Blair.[3] In 2011, it was recorded by Joe McElderry for his third studio album, Classic Christmas.

Contents

Chart performance

Chart Peak
position
UK Singles Chart (2007)[2] 33
Norway Singles Chart (2008)[4] 2
Irish Singles Chart (1988)'[5] 28
Swedish Singles Chart (2010)[6] 26
Dutch Singles Chart (2008)[7] 17
Finnish Singles Chart (1999)[8] 17
Danish Singles Chart (2007)[9] 19
Austrian Singles Chart (2007)[10] 35
Swiss Singles Chart (2009)[11] 41
German Singles Chart (2008)[12] 31

Stacey Solomon version

"Driving Home for Christmas"
Single by Stacey Solomon
Released December 18, 2011
Format Digital download
Recorded 2011
Genre Pop
Length 4:01
Label Conehead Management Ltd
Writer(s) Chris Rea

British singer and TV presenter Stacey Solomon covered the song in 2011 and it was released on December 18, 2011 as her debut single. It is currently being used in the Iceland Christmas commercials.

Background

The single was released on December 18, 2011 on iTunes with all proceeds going to Alzheimer's Research UK and children's hospice charity Together For Short Lives. Solomon has performed the song on This Morning and Daybreak. In an interview with the British newspaper The Sun, Solomon said that she was nervous about going head-to-head with the winner of that year's series of The X Factor, "If I got Christmas number one it would be the best feeling in the world," she said. "I'd be ecstatic. I don't know if I'd be able to look Simon Cowell in the eye! No, I don't think he'd talk to me!"[13][14]

Track listing

Digital download
No. Title Length
1. "Driving Home for Christmas"   3:55
2. "Driving Home for Christmas" (Alternative version) 3:16

Charts

Chart (2011) Peak
position
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[15] 27

Release history

Region Date Format Label
United Kingdom 18 December 2011[16] Digital Download Conehead Management

References

  1. ^ "Michael Ball Christmas". http://www.michaelball.co.uk/music/christmas.htm. 
  2. ^ a b "Chart Stats – Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas". http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=15996. Retrieved 12 February 2010 (2010-02-12). 
  3. ^ "Shelter England". England.shelter.org.uk. http://england.shelter.org.uk/news/previous_years/2009/december_2009/chris_supports_shelter_this_christmas. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  4. ^ "Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas". http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Chris+Rea&titel=Driving+Home+For+Christmas&cat=s. Retrieved 6 August 2010 (2010-08-06). 
  5. ^ Jaclyn Ward - Fireball Media Group - http://www.fireballmedia.ie. "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  6. ^ "Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas". http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Chris+Rea&titel=Driving+Home+For+Christmas&cat=s. Retrieved 6 August 2010 (2010-08-06). 
  7. ^ "Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas". http://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Chris+Rea&titel=Driving+Home+For+Christmas&cat=s. Retrieved 6 August 2010 (2010-08-06). 
  8. ^ "Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas". http://finnishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Chris+Rea&titel=Driving+Home+For+Christmas&cat=s. Retrieved 6 August 2010 (2010-08-06). 
  9. ^ "Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas". http://danishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Chris+Rea&titel=Driving+Home+For+Christmas&cat=s. Retrieved 6 August 2010 (2010-08-06). 
  10. ^ "Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas". http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Chris+Rea&titel=Driving+Home+For+Christmas&cat=s. Retrieved 6 August 2010 (2010-08-06). 
  11. ^ "Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas". http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Chris+Rea&titel=Driving+Home+For+Christmas&cat=s. Retrieved 6 August 2010 (2010-08-06). 
  12. ^ "Chris Rea – Driving Home for Christmas (In German)". http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/title/REA%2CCHRIS/DRIVING+HOME+FOR+CHRISTMAS/single. Retrieved 6 August 2010 (2010-08-06). 
  13. ^ Blackburn, Jen (2011-11-26). "Stacey Solomon in Xmas No1 race | The Sun |Showbiz|TV". The Sun. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/3961288/Stacey-Solomon-in-Xmas-No1-race.html. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  14. ^ Published Saturday, Nov 26 2011, 09:35 GMT (2011-11-26). "Stacey Solomon to release Iceland track as single - Music News". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a353044/stacey-solomon-to-release-iceland-track-as-single.html. Retrieved 2011-12-20. 
  15. ^ "Archive Chart" UK Singles Chart. The Official Charts Company.
  16. ^ Driving Home For Christmas - Single by Stacey Solomon. iTunes
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"Driving Home for Christmas"
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