Napaea Dioica

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"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

  1. "Life in a Northern Town" – 4:17
  2. "Test Tape No. 3" – 5:01

12" single

  1. "Life in a Northern Town" (Extended) – 5:19
  2. "Test Tape No. 3" – 5:03
  3. "Life in a Northern Town" (7" Mix) – 4:14
  4. "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]

The Dream Academy

Additional Musicians

Reception

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]

Chart history

Weekly Charts

Chart (1985–1986) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[24] 4
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[25] 7
Ireland (IRMA)[26] 9
UK Singles (OCC)[27] 15
US Billboard Hot 100[28] 7
U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 7
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks[29] 2

Year-end Charts

Year-end chart (1985) Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[30] 38
Year-end chart (1986) Position
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)[31] 78

Sugarland cover version

The song was covered in 2007 by the country music duo Sugarland, along with Little Big Town and Jake Owen, 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.[32]

This performance was included on the Deluxe Fan Edition of Sugarland's 2008 album Love on the Inside[32] and on Capitol Records' 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 awards,[33] Best Country Collaboration with Vocals at the 51st Grammy Awards,[34] and Vocal Event of the Year at the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music awards.[35]

Chart positions

Chart (2008) Peak
position
Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[36] 53
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[37] 28
US Billboard Hot 100[38] 43

Other versions

References

  1. ^ a b Monger, James Christopher. "The Dream Academy – Artist Biography". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ "Top 20 Most Beautiful Songs of the 80s". Listverse. 6 February 2008.
  4. ^ a b c "Life in a Northern Town by The Dream Academy". SongFacts.com.
  5. ^ a b c d e Simpson, Dave (8 April 2024). "'I wrote it in a bedsit on Nick Drake's guitar': how the Dream Academy made Life in a Northern Town". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  6. ^ "Dream Academy". Official Charts. The Official UK Charts Company.
  7. ^ "The Dream Academy". Billboard.
  8. ^ "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". www.irishcharts.ie.
  9. ^ "All US Top 40 Singles for 1986". Top40Weekly.com. 31 December 1986.
  10. ^ McNair, James (26 March 1999). "Apprentice to the stars". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
  11. ^ a b Michaels, Randolph (2005). Flashbacks to Happiness: Eighties Music Revisited. iUniverse. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-595-37007-8.
  12. ^ a b Dellar, Fred (13 May 2022). "MOJO Time Machine: Dream Academy Break Big With Life In A Northern Town". Mojo. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  13. ^ Higgons, Keith R. (23 February 2021). "Song of the Day — February 23".
  14. ^ Robbins, Patrick (16 November 2012). "Five Good Covers: Life In A Northern Town (The Dream Academy)". Cover Me.
  15. ^ Bein, Kat (7 April 2017). "Tritonal 'Hey MaMaMa' Turns Familiar '80s Sample into Dance Floor Gold: Listen". Billboard.
  16. ^ "'Life in a Northern Town' sheet music". MusicNotes.com. 25 August 2008. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  17. ^ "80s Life In A Northern Town". Hebden Bridge Web. 18 May 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  18. ^ "The Dream Academy: Life in a Northern Town, Version 2". IMDb. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  19. ^ Colbert, Paul (November 1985). "Academic Qualification: The Dream Academy". One Two Testing (Nov 1985): 24–25.
  20. ^ "Classic Tracks: "Life in a Northern Town," Dream Academy". mixonline.com. August 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  21. ^ Holden, Stephen (2 April 1986). "THE POP LIFE; FROM DREAM ACADEMY, BEATLES-STYLE ART ROCK". The New York Times.
  22. ^ Jamison, Darren (7 March 2023). "100 Greatest Songs from 1986 - Singersroom.com".
  23. ^ "The 13 greatest pop songs (from a classical music perspective)". Classic FM.
  24. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). St. Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 96. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. the Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid 1983 and 19 June 1988.
  25. ^ "Canada peak". Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  26. ^ "Search for Irish peaks". Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  27. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  28. ^ "The Dream Academy Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  29. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–2001. Record Research. p. 82.
  30. ^ "Kent Music Report No 599 – 30 December 1985 > National Top 100 Singles for 1985". Kent Music Report. Retrieved 23 January 2023 – via Imgur.
  31. ^ "1986 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 98, no. 52. 27 December 1986. p. Y-21.
  32. ^ a b "Sugarland Adds "Life in a Northern Town" to New CD". CMT. 4 June 2008. Archived from the original on 8 June 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
  33. ^ "Stars Shining Over CMAs". Great American Country. 11 September 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
  34. ^ "Alison Krauss, Robert Plant Score at Grammys". Great American Country. 4 December 2008. Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  35. ^ "Academy of Country Music nominees". Academy of Country Music. 11 February 2009. Archived from the original on 27 February 2009. Retrieved 9 March 2009.
  36. ^ "Sugarland Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard.
  37. ^ "Sugarland Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  38. ^ "Sugarland Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  39. ^ "The Day After Yesterday - Rick Springfield | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic.

Further reading

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