rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
the Pretenders
The Pretenders are a British rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (ba ...
. Written by lead vocalist
Chrissie Hynde
Christine Ellen Hynde (born September 7, 1951) is an American-British musician. She is a founding member of the rock band the Pretenders and is the band's lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter; she and drummer Martin Chambers are the ...
and produced by Chris Thomas, it was released on 18 November 1983 as the second single from their third studio album, '' Learning to Crawl'' (1984). It was most popular in the UK, where it peaked at No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1983. In the US, it was released as the B-side of both the
7-inch
In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...
remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...
's "Thousand Miles Away", the song was written a year after the band's guitarist,
James Honeyman-Scott
James Honeyman-Scott (4 November 1956 – 16 June 1982) was an English rock guitarist, songwriter and founding member of the band the Pretenders.
Honeyman-Scott established a reputation, in the words of AllMusic, as "one of the most original a ...
, had died of a drug overdose in 1982. Hyde has noted that she thinks "the sense of distance in the lyrics" refers to Honeyman-Scott". Considered a
Christmas song
Christmas music comprises a variety of Music genre, genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of Christmas ...
, it has been released on various Christmas compilation albums.
Background
According to music critic
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles (born 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.Robbie McIntosh plays beautifully on '2000 Miles'," Hynde recalled. "Anything to avoid listening to my voice and my stupid words."
The song frequently reappears on the UK Singles Chart around Christmastime, staying in the charts for a few weeks over the Christmas period.
Critical reception
Dave Marsh
Dave Marsh (born ) is an American music critic and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of '' Creem'' magazine, has written for various publications such as ''Newsday'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''Rolling Stone'', and has published num ...
, in his 1989 book ''The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made'', ranked "2000 Miles"' as the 630th best rock or soul single to that date. It is one of four songs by Pretenders listed in the book. ''Ultimate Classic Rock'' critic Matt Wardlaw rated it the Pretenders’ 9th greatest song, calling it "one of the season's most beloved Christmas songs."
According to analysis of
PRS for Music
PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertake ...
figures, it was estimated that the song generates £102,000 of royalties per year.
Music video
The official video features Hynde dressed as a member of
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...
in a snowy location. Chrissie Hynde also recorded a version of the song in 1995 with violins and other stringed instruments for The Isle Of View album.
Covers
British
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...
released a piano cover of the song as a charity single. The track's digital download was available for £1.50 between 16 December 2003 and 1 January 2004, with all royalties being donated to Stop Handgun Violence and Future Forests.
KT Tunstall
Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall (born 23 June 1975) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained attention with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on ''Later... with Jools Holland'', and h ...
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...
band
Train
A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...
covered the song for their Christmas album '' Christmas in Tahoe'' (2015). The same year, Australian singer
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...
covered the song for her first Christmas album '' Kylie Christmas''.
American rock band
Smash Mouth
Smash Mouth is an American Rock music, rock band from San Jose, California. The band was formed in 1994 and was originally composed of Steve Harwell (lead vocals), Kevin Coleman (drums), Greg Camp (guitar), and Paul De Lisle (bass). Harwell's ...
covered the song on the 2012 reissue of their 2005 album, The Gift of Rock.
American
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...
band C-Clamp covered the song on the 1998 compilation The My Pal God Holiday Record