Northwestern Skies

Album: The Place We Ran From (2010)
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Songfacts®:

  • Tired Pony is a music supergroup formed by Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody out of his love for Country music. The band consists of R.E.M.'s Peter Buck on guitar, Belle And Sebastian drummer Richard Colburn, Troy Stewart, a regular touring member of Snow Patrol, Iain Archer, a long-time Snow Patrol collaborator; producer Garret "Jacknife" Lee (U2, Bloc Party) and Scott McCaughey, R.E.M.'s full-time auxiliary member since 1994.
  • Lightbody explained to Uncut magazine August 2010 that The Place We Run From "was inspired by a renewed love of Country music over the last few years. New Country and me have been pals for a long time. This was Old Country - Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers and Waylon Jennings; all these records that I grew up with, but which I kept at arm's length. The concept of Tired Pony was of a worn-out cowboy. But when we got into the studio, I didn't tell them I wanted to make a Country record. We just made the record that we were supposed to make."
  • This song sets the action of the record inside a "crumble down cinema" as a pair of young lovers shelter from a cyclone. "We can hide where we always hide," Lightbody sings, "on the blank screen project our lives."
    The young lovers later return later on the record in the seven minute ballad "Held In The Arms of Your Words."

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