"It's Been a Long Day" is a song by Australian

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

Spacey Jane Spacey Jane are an Australian indie rock band formed in Fremantle , Fremantle, Western Australia in 2016. The group consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Caleb Harper, lead guitarist Ashton Hardman-Le Cornu, drummer Kieran Lama and bassist P ...

, released on 8 April 2022 as the fourth

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

to their second studio album, ''Here Comes Everybody'' (2022). It peaked at number 79 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

and number 26 on the

New Zealand Hot Singles chart The Official Aotearoa Music Charts, formerly the Official New Zealand Music Chart (), is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Mu ...

. In the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2022, the song polled at number five. In 2024, "It's Been a Long Day" was

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

for selling 35,000 units.

Composition

frontman Caleb Harper wrote "It's Been a Long Day" before and after breaking up with a partner in 2020. He wrote the song to admit that he really did love her, but was too anxious and overwhelmed throughout the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

to tell her directly. Described as a melancholic

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

, "It's Been a Long Day" is sonically desolate and contrasts their previous, guitar-heavy work. According to Anna Rose of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'', it begins with "a contemplative

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

" that is gradually "joined by a swaying

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

and piercing drums". Writing for

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

, Al Newstead said the track shows the band "leaning into their more thoughtful and reflective side". Harper's vocals were described as angelic by Veronica Zurzola of ''Pilerats''.

Release

On 8 April 2022, "It's Been a Long Day" was released as the fourth

to the band's second studio album, ''Here Comes Everybody''. It was issued alongside a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

directed by Serena Reynolds and starring

Sarah Pidgeon Sarah Pidgeon (born ) is an American actress. She has played roles in the Amazon Prime Video series '' The Wilds'' (2020–2022) and the Hulu series '' Tiny Beautiful Things'' (2023). She made her Broadway debut in the David Adjmi play ''Ster ...

, filmed in

Los Feliz LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

, Los Angeles. In the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2022, the track polled at number five, directly following "Sitting Up" at number six. Spacey Jane had three songs in the top ten alone, with "

Hardlight Hardlight is a British video game developer founded by Sega and based in Leamington Spa, England. Revealed in January 2012, it is focused on mobile games for smartphones and became a part of Sega Europe in 2019. Founded by Sega employee Chris ...

" highest placed at number three.

Live performances

While touring at

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

venue

Forum Theatre Forum theatre is a type of theatre created by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal. It is one of the techniques under the umbrella term of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO). This relates to the engagement of spectators influencing and engaging wit ...

, the band recorded a suite of acoustic performances of songs from ''Here Comes Everybody'', including a rendition of "It's Been a Long Day" released in November 2022. The recording features only Harper and lead guitarist Ashton Hardman Le-Cornu.

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2022 songs 2022 singles Songs written by Caleb Harper Spacey Jane songs