‘Life in a Northern Town’ is the debut single by British band The Dream Academy, released in March 1985. It appears on the band's self-titled debut studio album, The Dream Academy. The song was written as an elegy to British folk musician Nick Drake. Written by band members Nick Laird-Clowes and Gilbert Gabriel, the song was produced by Laird-Clowes with help from Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. The single reached No. 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1986 and reached No. 15 on the UK charts. It is the band's highest charting single in the UK, the US, and Ireland.
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."
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."
Stephen Holden of The New York Times described ‘Life in a Northern Town’ as a "richly textured nostalgic ballad...that looks back warmly on 'winter 1963, when it felt like the world would freeze with John F. Kennedy and the Beatles'". According to SingersRoom.com, the song's "haunting, ethereal melody and poetic lyrics...create a sense of wistfulness..." ClassicFM.com describes the song as "brimming with nostalgia, something that's mainly achieved, somewhat unexpectedly, with the wistful sound of an oboe".
Labels – Warner Bros. (US), Blanco y Negro (UK)
Songwriters – Gilbert Gabriel, Nick Laird-Clowes
Producers – David Gilmour, Nick Laird-Clowes, George Nicholson
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]A Salvation Army band played
And the children drunk lemonade
And the morning lasted all day
All day
[Verse 2]
And through an open window came
Like Sinatra in a younger day
Pushing the town away
Ah
[Chorus]
Ah-hey-ma-ma-ma
Dee-doo-din-nie-ya-ya
Ah-hey-ma-ma-ma
Hey-y-yah
Life in a northern town
Ah-hey-ma-ma-ma-ma
[Verse 3]
They sat on the stoney ground
And he took a cigarette out
And everyone else came down
To listen
[Verse 4]
He said, "In winter 1963
It felt like the world would freeze
With John F. Kennedy
And The Beatles"
Yeah, yeah, yeah
[Chorus]
Ah hey ma ma mommy doo-din-nie-ya
Ah hey ma ma ma hey-y-yah
Life in a northern town
Hey ma ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma ma hey-y-yah
All the work shut down
[Verse 3]
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
[Chorus]
Ah hey ma ma mommy doo-din-nie-ya
Ah hey ma ma ma hey-y-yah
Life in a northern town
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma mommy doo-din-nie-ya
Ah hey ma ma ma hey-y-yah
Life in a northern town
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Ah hey ma ma mommy doo-din-nie-ya
Ah hey ma ma ma hey-y-yah
Ah hey ma ma ma ma
Make it easy on yourself
Society's so
So hard to desert
So hard that you know
Make it easy on yourself
Life in a northern town
We'll get back up
Ah hey ma ma mommy doo-din-nie-ya
Ah hey ma ma ma hey-y-yah
(repeat to fade)