Background
In March 2021, songwriter Paul Tucker told the Official Charts Company the story behind the song:"High was probably the most difficult song to write of all of them. Without getting too heavy, my wife lost a baby on New Year's Eve in 1996, the year that the album Ocean Drive''">Ocean_Drive_(album).html" ;"title="' Ocean Drive''was a hit. Lifted was a hit and Ocean Drive (Lighthouse Family song)">Ocean Drive was a hit. It was the first week in 1997 I started writing High, and I had the bit: 'One day we're gonna get so high'. That was the same week – and this is absolutely incidental, it’s nothing to do with the song - although a Newcastle United fan might think it is – that Kevin Keegan">Newcastle United F.C.">Newcastle United fan might think it is – that Kevin Keegan left Newcastle United. I just remember that week so well because of what happened. It took about eight months to write the song. When we did ''Ocean Drive'' there was no pressure, we hadn't sold any records so nobody was expecting anything, whereas when we got to the second album which is what this was, there were a lot of people who were saying, 'this is huge, this is massive, this is the hit on the record.' And I hadn't even finished writing it, so immediately I'm under this enormous pressure. We started recording ''Postcards from Heaven'' in March 1997 and we went to Miramont in France to start recording it. We were there until about June and the whole time I was sitting in the room on my own with a blank sheet of paper trying to write High and driving myself mad with it. Everybody kept saying 'have you done it yet?' and I hadn’t. Then they took the recording back to London and SARM West, which is Trevor Horn's studio in Notting Hill, and we took the album back there to record the second batch of songs. The first batch had songs like Raincloud in it, while the second was songs like Sun in the Night and High. We recorded the backing tracks for all that stuff, we got the tunes together, we had the top, they had Tunde's vocals. But before we went back to London, I spent a few weeks in Nice on my own to finish High - I have to be on my own to write lyrics – and I just couldn't get it together. Then I went back to London to work on it in SARM again. By the very last day of recording, we'd recorded all of the stuff on the second album apart from Tunde’s vocals on High. It was the last job to do and I still hadn't written the lyrics. I ''still'' hadn't written it. The night before that, I just wrote down what I was thinking, which was, 'when you're close to tears remember someday it'll all be over'. It was how I felt, I just wanted to get this song over and done with. As soon as I’d written that the whole thing came together. It just fell into place. So in truth, High is actually a description of a very uncomfortable situation.
Critical reception
Chuck Taylor of '' Billboard'' wrote, "After being released in the U.K. nearly a year ago, this spiritual gem of a single is finally seeing the light of day here. One of many high points on the duo's delicious sophomore album, "'' Postcards From Heaven''", "High" has been released to AC radio in its original form. For the clubs and dance radio, it has been lovingly reconstructed by two of clubland's most revered remixers: Boris Dlugosch and Francois Kevorkian. In its original state, "High" is a postcard-perfect R&B-splashed slice ofMusic video
A music video was made to accompany the song. The clip is in black and white, except when Tunde Baiyewu begins to sing. There are scenes of Paul Tucker getting off the train atTrack listings
* UK CD1 # "High" (full length version) # "High" ( Itaal Shur's Beautiful Urban mix) # "High" (Full Crew main mix) # "High" (Itaal Shur's Beautiful Urban Dreamscape mix) * UK CD2 # "High" (full length version) # "High" (vocal 12-inch) # "High" (Interplanetary Disco mix) # "High" ( E-Dancer dub) # "High" ( Inner City mix) * UK cassette single # "High" (full length version) # "High" (Itaal Shur's Beautiful Urban edit) * European CD single # "High" (7-inch edit) – 4:35 # "High" (Itaal Shur's Beautiful Urban edit) – 3:43 * Australian CD single # "High" (7-inch edit) – 4:35 # " Lifted" (7-inch) – 4:30 # " Ocean Drive" (7-inch radio mix) – 3:59 # "High" (Itaal Shur's Beautiful Urban edit) – 3:43Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
References
External links
* {{Authority control 1997 singles 1997 songs Island Records singles Lighthouse Family songs Number-one singles in Australia Polydor Records singles Songs written by Paul Tucker (musician)