Life In A Northern Town by The Dream Academy

Album: The Dream Academy (1985)

Charted: 15 7

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Songfacts®:

Dream Academy members Nick Laird-Clowes and Gilbert Gabriel wrote this song, which is dedicated to the singer Nick Drake, who was 26 years old in 1974 when he died of an antidepressant overdose which may have been suicide. His work was very influential to many British musicians and songwriters, and his legend grew after his death.

The song was not specifically about Nick Drake, as some suppose, but merely dedicated to his memory. Laird-Clowes recalled to Mojo magazine in a 2011 interview: "The song was created in a Southgate bedsit where Gilbert Gabriel had a room. We wrote it while sitting on a floor. Just two guitars - one nylon strung with just three strings on it, while the other was the same guitar that was on the cover of Nick Drake's Bryter Layter. We had the idea, even before we sat down, to write a folk song with an African-style chorus. We started it and when we got to the verse melody, there was something about it that reminded me of Nick Drake, who I had been turned on to in 1972 by Roundhouse DJ Jeff Dexter. It was Jeff who first informed me what a brilliant record Bryter Layter was. He claimed, 'I know where that guitar is and one day we'll get hold of it.'

I was working at the RCA record factory in Ladbroke Grove at the time and bought Nick Drake's guitar for £100. When the single was completed I dedicated it to Nick."
"Northern Town" started life with a different title. Laird-Clowes told Mojo that he had befriended Paul Simon at one point and the two stayed in touch. He recalled: "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."
The song's subject matter was inspired by the time Laird-Clowes spent working on a music TV program that was produced in the north east England city of Newcastle. He recalled to Mojo: "The lyric emerged because I was an early presenter on The Tube and Geoff Wonfor, who went on to shoot The Beatles Anthology series, showed me the long lines of people unemployed and the shipyards that were closed down. That's what 'Life in Northern Town' is really all about."
David Gilmour from Pink Floyd helped produce The Dream Academy album with Nick Laird-Clowes.
Dream Academy's record label didn't want to release this song, they felt it needed more drums. The band refused and it became a worldwide hit.
This was covered by country acts Sugarland, together with Little Big Town and Jake Owen on the Sugarland Change for Change Tour. Their performance was played live at the 2008 CMT Music Awards and this rendition began receiving airplay on country radio. Three months after debuting on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, it entered the Hot 100 listing. This represented the first Top 40 chart entry for both Little Big Town and Jake Owen.

Comments: 20

Moosehead from Scthis song was one of my favorites and quite popular when i got my driver's license. i elected not to attend class and instead drove around listening to this song...with the top down...in the winter.
Roctor from Brentwood Tn UsaGreat song with provocative, emotive and brilliant, but openly scant, production used exquisitely for focused intensity... It tells a complete story without really telling you what the story “has to mean”... allowing one to have one's own, unique interpretation. One of the few bands who wrote deeply inviting lyrics in the 80s. Cheeky. Chuffed....
F. Fom Stoke from Stafford EnglandIn reply to James from USA.. you go into great detail with your interpretation of the song without actually knowing what you are talking about. You state the song is solely about Newcastle when in actual fact it could be about any number of towns in the North East at that period in time. I know because I lived in one such town, Stanley, County Durham, a former mining town. Shipbuilding?.. the town that suffered greater job losses from shipyard closures was Sunderland, the River Wear has a far greater history of shipbuilding than the Tyne. This coupled with the closure of many coal mines coupled with other job losses around the area made Sunderland a desperate area with regards to employment. I lived through it and was forced to seek employment in the Midlands hence my exile now in Stoke-on Trent. The whole Northern region was blighted with un-employmemt not just the CITY, not TOWN, of Newcastle. Scenes from the video remind me of the 35 years I lived in the North. One clip brings a lump to my throat, that being the sight of Durham Cathedral/Castle as you approach Durham station, anyone from the North East will tell you when they see that they are HYEM ( HOME ).
Mavis from Upper Great LakesThis could be about my hometown: Factories looming above the river that runs through it, periods of high unemployment, businesses closing, old shabby houses...
James from UsaThe song is not about Drake. at all but is dedicated to him. The song is about one town and only 1 town in particular. Newcastle in the UK. As the others have mentioned, in an interview with Mojo, it was about long unemployment lines and the poverty in that city due to that. Written in mid 1980s

Verse 1:
A Salvation Army band played And the children drank lemonade And the morning lasted all day All day
And through an open window came Like Sinatra in a younger day Pushing the town away Ah

Salvation Army band is to spread the gospel, spread hope during a time of crisis. The morning lasted all day, no one was working so the days seem to drag on. I'm assuming this (with no reference) that this is a local politician which will make sense later. The town is circling around this person for good news about theirs and the city's future.

Verse 2:
They sat on the stoney ground And he took a cigarette out And everyone else came down To listen
He said, "In winter 1963 It felt like the world would freeze With John F. Kennedy And The Beatles" Yeah, yeah, yeah

Everyone gathered around "HIM" to listen about their futures. He tried to provide hope to the town by describing they overcame the very harsh winter and as well the news about JFK and the Beatles

Verse 3:
The evening turned to rain (The evening turned to rain) Watched the water roll down the drain As we followed him down To the station
And though he never would wave goodbye You could see it written in his eyes As the train rolled out of sight Bye-bye

No news was guaranteed about their futures. (Newcastle Background: Unemployment was above 12% in the entire UK however in Newcastle alone it was above 24% in the 1980s)

So atmosphere when dark and rainy. The watched the water roll down the drain meaning they were looking at the ground and lost hope. He never waved goodbye, you can see it written in his eyes, means "HE" left them with no good news and couldn't bare looking back at them that their city was not going to make it anytime soon.

Then in the chorus they said in one version "All the work shut down" and another version "They shut the factories down". "Take it easy on yourselves" because this is a bad era.

So this song is solely about Newcastle with the long unemployment lines and all the ship building factories shutting down in the 1980s due to labor demands and other countries such as Japan making them faster and cheaper. Due to this reason, Newcastle was hit the hardest of all and had a high unemployment rate of 24+%.
Michael Beaudoin from Sydney Australia The winter referred to in the 2nd verse is 1962-1963 the coldest winter in living memory in the UK:
“ The cold of the winter of 1962–63 is referenced in Dream Academy's 1985 hit single "Life in a Northern Town". The lyrics include the phrase "In winter 1963 / It felt like the world would freeze / With John F. Kennedy and the Beatles".”
Sandy from New YorkYes, in 1963..( really the Winter of ‘64).... it did seem like the world had “frozen”.... I was a kid.... I remember that feeling exactly... but the Beatles rather rescued us from it.... at least to a 12 year old.
Tania from Brisbane, AustraliaWhen I was a kid living in South Australia, I was convinced the opening line was “Salvation Army of Adelaide”, and that the song itself was about Alice Springs, a largely aboriginal populated town/city in the Northern Territory of Australia. Still not sure why I thought that lol

Oh, and I don’t know that I could imagine the song with a heavier drum sound!
Jb from TxThis song was played at my cousin's funeral as it was his favorite.
Bill from UsA girl with long blond hair wearing a band uniform while playing an oboe makes me want to bang on a kettle drum any day. The video for this song was huge, the song is so cool, even if so sad.
Hannah from Gustavus, OhI remember the first time I heard this was on the episode of King of the Hill with Buckley's angel...Buckley was a jerk but this song made me cry when it came on. That was a well-made episode.
Brian from Boston, MaGreat song , great melody.Reminds me of high school
Karen from Manchester, NhAs much as I love the original, the SL/LBT/JO version just gives me goosebumps! When they break into those harmonies...fantastic!
Mike from Syracuse, NyI saw Little Big Town perform this song a few nights ago, and they absolutely electrified the Syracuse War Memorial when they did it. Great cover of a great song by a great band. Another classic song lives on...
John from London, United KingdomA nice enough song, but if it is a tribute to the late great Nick Drake you'd never fathom it from the lyrics, which name-check Frank Sinatra, John F Kennedy, and the Beatles but not Drake, or for that matter any of his songs. However, the lead singer could be his twin brother.
Kevin from Memphis , TnThis is now being covered by country acts Sugarland, Little Big Town, and Jake Owen (and a great version if I do say so!)
Angie from Jacksonville, FlThis was used in a third season episode of "King Of The Hill", where Luanne was visited by her boyfriend Buckley's angel.
Erik from Bloomfield Hills, MiTheir record label thought it needed more drums? I can't picture this being a percussion-heavy song at all. Good thing Dream Academy had more sense than that.
Camille from Toronto, OhThis song is very ethereal...a timeless classic.
Dave from Cardiff, WalesVocalist and oboeist Kate St. John was also a member of The Dream Academy. Best known for singing TV themes in the UK, she was intorduced to Nick Laird-Clowes (ex-host of the UK music show 'The Tube) by David Gilmour, who co-produced the album. The vocal chant from "Life In A Northern Town" was sampled by Dario G on his 1997 UK No.2 hit "Sun Chyme". "Life In A Northern Town" was The Dream Academy's only hit in the UK, however they were quite big in America, where they had further chart entries with "The Edge Of Forever" and a cover of The Smiths' "Please Please Please Give Me What I Want Want Want" (both used in the hit 1986 film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" starring Matthew Broderick), "The Love Parade", "Indian Summer" and a cover version of The Korgis' 1980 classic "Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime".

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