"Life in a Northern Town" is the debut single by British band The Dream Academy, released in March 1985. It appears on the band's self-titled debut studio album, The Dream Academy. The song was written as an elegy to British folk musician Nick Drake. Written by band members Nick Laird-Clowes and Gilbert Gabriel,[4] the song was produced by Laird-Clowes with help from Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour.[4][5] The single reached No. 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1986 and reached No. 15 on the UK charts. It is the band's highest charting single in the UK,[6] the US,[7] and Ireland.[8]
American country music artists Sugarland, Little Big Town, and Jake Owen recorded a live cover version of "Life in a Northern Town" that became a minor U.S. hit in 2008.
Original version
The Dream Academy released the original version of "Life in a Northern Town" as a single in 1985. The song was included as a track on the band's self-titled album.[4] The single peaked at number seven on the US charts[9] and number 15 on the UK charts.
Composition
"Life in a Northern Town" was written as an elegy to British folk musician Nick Drake, who died in 1974.[1][10] Nick Laird-Clowes said he wrote it on a guitar that Drake had been holding on one of his album covers, that Laird-Clowes "bought for £100 and still had his tuning ... I still have that guitar."[5]
Gilbert Gabriel, 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.[11] According to Nick Laird-Clowes, "We had the idea, even before we sat down, to write a folk song with an African-style chorus.[5] We started it and when we got to the verse melody, there was something about it that reminded me of Nick Drake."[12] Laird-Clowes has stated that the song is about the collapse of the shipping industry in the United Kingdom.[13]
The song includes elements of classical music,[14] an "African-esque" chant of "hey ma ma ma ma” (which was later sampled by dance duo Dario G for their track "Sunchyme" and by the duo Tritonal),[15] and hints of psychedelia.[11] "Life in a Northern Town" is written in the key of E major with a main chord pattern of E-Amaj7-E.[16]
Laird-Clowes told Mojo that his mentor Paul Simon spurred him to come up with the title.[5] “I played him the song and he asked, 'What are you going to call it – Ah Hey Ma Ma Ma?' I told him that we intended to name it 'Morning Lasted All Day.' 'That’s no good,' he said and so I came up with 'Life In A Northern Town,' which he thought was a great title.”[12]
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.[5] The earlier version features the group performing the song in various locations in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.[17] The second version, released in November 1985, features the group performing at a concert while clips play featuring footage of Newcastle upon Tyne, Manchester, and Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.[18]
Personnel
Credits sourced from "One Two Testing" and Mix.[19][20]
Stephen Holden of The New York Times described "Life in a Northern Town" as a "richly textured nostalgic ballad...that looks back warmly on 'winter 1963, when it felt like the world would freeze with John F. Kennedy and the Beatles'".[21]
According to SingersRoom.com, the song's "haunting, ethereal melody and poetic lyrics...create a sense of wistfulness..."[22] ClassicFM.com describes the song as "brimming with nostalgia, something that's mainly achieved, somewhat unexpectedly, with the wistful sound of an oboe".[23]
^Durcholz, Daniel; Orski, Allan (1998). "The Dream Academy". In Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit: Visible Ink Press. p. 361.
^Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). St. Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 96. ISBN0-646-11917-6. N.B. the Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid 1983 and 19 June 1988.