"Life in a Northern Town" is the debut single by British band

the Dream Academy The Dream Academy were a British band consisting of singer/guitarist Nick Laird-Clowes, multi-instrumentalist (chiefly oboe, cor anglais player) Kate St John, and keyboardist Gilbert Gabriel. The band is most noted for their 1985 hit singles "L ...

, released in March 1985. It is from their self-titled debut studio album ''

The Dream Academy The Dream Academy were a British band consisting of singer/guitarist Nick Laird-Clowes, multi-instrumentalist (chiefly oboe, cor anglais player) Kate St John, and keyboardist Gilbert Gabriel. The band is most noted for their 1985 hit singles "L ...

''. The song was written as an

elegy An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...

to British folk musician

Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter known for his acoustic guitar-based songs. He did not find a wide audience during his lifetime, but his work gradually achieved wider notice and recognit ...

. Written by band members

Nick Laird-Clowes Nick Laird-Clowes (born 5 February 1957, in London, England) is an English musician and composer, best known as the lead singer and one of the principal songwriters for the Dream Academy. He co-wrote songs including " Life in a Northern Town" ...

and

Gilbert Gabriel Gilbert Alexander Gabriel (born 16 November 1956) is a songwriter, film composer, producer and lecturer. He studied piano and clarinet at Dartington College of Arts and Goldsmiths before forming the British folk rock trio The Dream Academy, w ...

, the song was produced by Laird-Clowes with help from

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

guitarist

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

. The single reached No. 7 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in February 1986. It is the band's highest charting single in the UK, the US, and Ireland. A cover version released in 2008 and recorded live by the American country music artists

Sugarland Sugarland is an American country music duo founded in Atlanta, Georgia. The duo consists of singer-songwriters Jennifer Nettles (lead vocals) and Kristian Bush (vocals, guitar, mandolin). They were founded in 2002, at which point Kristen Hall (vo ...

Little Big Town Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group from Homewood, Alabama. Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (née Roads), Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbro ...

, and

Jake Owen Joshua Ryan Owen (born August 28, 1981), known professionally as Jake Owen, is an American country music singer, songwriter, and actor. Signed to RCA Nashville in 2006, he released his debut studio album, '' Startin' with Me'', that year. This ...

was also a minor American hit that year.

Original version

The Dream Academy released the original version of "Life in a Northern Town" as a single in 1985. The song appeared on their self-titled album. The single peaked at number seven on the US charts.

Composition

"Life in a Northern Town" was written as an

to British folk musician

, who died in 1974.

, a member of the Dream Academy and co-writer of "Life in a Northern Town", said that the inspiration for the tune came from his experience at

Dartington College of Arts Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts college located at Dartington Hall in the south-west of England, offering courses at degree and postgraduate level together with an arts research programme. It existed for a period of almost 50 ...

. The song, which took a year to record, includes elements of classical music, an "African-esque" chant of "hey ma ma ma ma", which was later sampled by dance duo

Dario G Dario G is the stage name of English musician Paul Spencer. Dario G was originally a trio, who are best known for their 1997 hit " Sunchyme", which reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. The group formed in Cheshire, England and consisted of ...

for their track " Sunchyme" and by the duo

Tritonal Tritonal is a mixture of 80% Trinitrotoluene, TNT and 20% aluminium Powder (substance), powder, used in several types of ordnance such as air-dropped bombs. The aluminium improves the total heat output and hence Impulse (physics), impulse of the ...

, and hints of

psychedelia Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic ...

. The song is written in the key of

E major E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, ...

with a main chord pattern of E-A-E.

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

Music video

Two videos were released to promote the single. The earlier version features the group performing the song in various locations in

Hebden Bridge Hebden Bridge is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, England. It is west of Halifax and 14 miles (21 km) north-east of Rochdale, at the confluence of the River Calder and the Hebden Water. The town is the largest ...

, West Yorkshire. The second version, released in November 1985, features the group performing at a concert while clips play featuring footage of

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, and Aliquippa,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Chart history

Sugarland cover version

The song was covered in 2007 by the

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

duo

, along with

and

, on the Sugarland Change for Change Tour. A live performance from 2007 was made into a music video by Becky Fluke for the network

Country Music Television Country Music Television (CMT) is an American pay TV network owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched on March 5, 1983, as Country Music Television, CMT was the first nationally available channel devoted to coun ...

. This performance was included on the Deluxe Fan Edition of Sugarland's 2008 album ''

Love on the Inside ''Love on the Inside'' is the third studio album by American country music duo Sugarland, first released on July 22, 2008, as a Deluxe Fan Edition, including five bonus tracks, with the standard edition one week later, on July 29, on Mercury Nashvi ...

'' and on

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

' late 2008 re-release of Little Big Town's 2007 album '' A Place to Land''. It was nominated for Vocal Event of the Year at the

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre. The objectives of the organization are to guide and enha ...

awards, Best Country Collaboration with Vocals at the

51st Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

, and Vocal Event of the Year at the 44th Annual

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris Christensen. They wanted to promote country music ...

awards.

Chart positions

Other versions

* In 2005,

Rick Springfield Richard Lewis Springthorpe (born 23 August 1949), known professionally as Rick Springfield, is an Australian-American musician and actor. He was a member of the pop rock group Zoot from 1969 to 1971, then started his solo career with his debut ...

made a version of the song on the covers album ''

The Day After Yesterday ''The Day After Yesterday'' is the 14th studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Rick Springfield, released in 2005. It spent a single week on ''Billboards album chart, peaking at #197. The album is composed largely of covers of his favourit ...

''.

References

External links

Video of Sugarland version
at CMT {{Authority control 1984 songs 1985 debut singles 2008 singles Songs written by Nick Laird-Clowes The Dream Academy songs British new wave songs Baroque pop songs New wave ballads Rock ballads Pop ballads Sugarland songs Little Big Town songs Jake Owen songs Warner Records singles Mercury Records singles Song recordings produced by Byron Gallimore Blanco y Negro Records singles Music videos directed by Tim Pope Song recordings produced by David Gilmour Songs about musicians Songs based on real people Vocal collaborations Nick Drake