Good morning everyone! I think you will like this wonderful Christmas song.
The guitar in this song is haunting…and for good reason.
This song is actually Hynde’s tribute to guitarist and founding band member James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose in 1982 at the age of 25. In 1982, two days after lead singer Chrissie Hynde fired bassist Pete Farndon for drug abuse, the guitarist died of cocaine-induced heart failure. He was only 25 years old. Farndon himself passed away the following year.
“2000 Miles” was released as a single in December of 1983 and appeared as the 10th track of The Pretenders’ Learning to Crawl album. The single was popular in the UK, where it peaked at #15 on the UK Singles Chart. Learning to Crawl peaked at #5 in the Billboard 200 albums chart.
In 2014, while finishing up her album Stockholm, Hynde collaborated with Bjorn Yttling on an updated version of “2000 Miles. It was released as a Christmas single in the UK that December.
Lisa covered this one a few days ago on Tao Talk.
2000 Miles
He’s gone two thousand miles
It’s very far
The snow is falling down
Gets colder day by day
I miss you The children will sing
He’ll be back at Christmas timeIn these frozen and silent nights
Sometimes in a dream you appear
Outside under the purple sky
Diamonds in the snow sparkle
Our hearts were singing
It felt like Christmas timeTwo thousand miles
Is very far through the snow
I’ll think of you
Wherever you go
He’s gone two thousand miles
It’s very far
The snow is falling down
Gets colder day by day
I miss you
I can hear people singing
It must be Christmas time
I hear people singing
It must be Christmas time
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Band was filled with so much tragedy early on yet Hynde and the mutton chops drummer carried on. Amazing really.
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Aaaah, this is one of my favorite Christmas songs that not many people know about. It’s lovely, and haunting as you say. The Pretenders’ tributes to Honeyman-Scott are special. The loss of Farndon must have really compounded their loss.
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I can’t imagine losing two friends that close together. I have to wonder why this isn’t known as well.
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A great song and Christmas tune. It ranks as one of my top three or four Pretenders songs in total. It used to get a whole lot of radio time in Canada back about a decade or so , but I’ve not heard it here very often. But then again, as I have said, the current trend is to favor older Christmas music like Bing and Burl at the expense of ‘modern’ ones like this.
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You don’t hear it often and that is a crime…it should be played more here…I don’t want to hear a constant Carey on radio.
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Less Carey at Christmas? you’re preaching to the choir here, Brother.
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Amen!
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I agree you just don’t hear this one that much, and it deserves more plays and love.
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It’s confusing that The Proclaimers have a Miles song too. I prefer this one.
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I agree…I’ve mixed them up also.
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This is the fourth site featuring ‘2000 Miles’ I’ve read about in the last few days. Maybe its getting a resurgence. (Love ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong.)
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Yea it flies under the radar on radio…now that you mention it…this is the 3rd one I’ve seen.
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Great Christmas tune, Max. I had forgotten about it until recently when one of our fellow bloggers featured it as well.
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It’s a beauty of a song for the holidays and a poignant tribute to the band member who passed on. Thanks for the nod, Max.
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I meant to put it at the top…but then fell asleep!
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