The Pretenders – 2000 Miles

I hope all of you are having a good week! This song gets me in the mood for Christmas; I can listen to it anytime, not just Christmas. It’s a wonderful song and Chrissie Hyde sounds great in it.

The guitar in this song is haunting…and for good reason. The song has an incredible depth and meaning.

2000 Miles 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, peaking 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 in December.

Lisa covered this one last year on Tao Talk. She also added it to her current Christmas playlist.

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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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

18 thoughts on “The Pretenders – 2000 Miles”

  3. I’ve been listening to this song the past few days. I’m sort of glad it has not been overplayed. To me it’s one of those songs that can be played all year, not just at Christmas. That interview was quite interesting to watch.

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  4. one of the Pretenders finest moments, and one of the best of the alternative rock Christmas tunes (not that it sounds very alt rock, but because of the band it gets classified that way). Unfortunately, the tide has turned so much in terms of what’s played on radio and in over-crowded stores, it seems to have fallen off the map. As RSR says, it’s good it’s not overplayed, but it deserves more attention than it’s gotten in recent years.

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    1. Yes I agree…it deserves to be played much more than it is. Like I said…I didn’t know it was a Christmas song until a few years ago…I just liked it. That is a good sign.

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  7. It’s a good one and a sad one because of the connection to the band member who passed. She’s very skilled in showing how she’s in mourning and numb to the holiday season 😦 Thanks for the mention, Max. I’ve been tweaking and listening to my list in the car and am listening to it again right now.

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    1. Like I said to others…I honestly never thought of it as a Christmas song…of course I wasn’t paying attention…I just liked the song alot…it was only around a 4 years ago or so that I realized it.

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