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I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Sqwyd (talk | contribs) at 03:23, 24 July 2019 (There is absolutely nothing on the web that states that The Proclaimers took down the video, besides one Wikia page with no sources. In addition, I've cited the tweet that states the video was indeed taken down for copyright reasons.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For the traditional American song also known as "500 Miles Away from Home" or "Railroaders' Lament", see 500 Miles.
"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)"
Single by The Proclaimers
from the album Sunshine on Leith
ReleasedAugust 1988 (UK)
June 1993 (US)
2000 (re-release)
Recorded1988, Chipping Norton Recording Studios, Oxfordshire[1]
Genre
Length3:37
LabelChrysalis
Songwriter(s)
  • Charlie Reid
  • Craig Reid
Producer(s)Pete Wingfield
The Proclaimers singles chronology
"Make My Heart Fly"
(1987) 		"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)"
(1988) 		"Sunshine on Leith"
(1988)

"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" is a song written and performed by Scottish duo The Proclaimers, and first released as the lead single from their 1988 album Sunshine on Leith. The song reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart on its initial release, and it has since become their most popular song worldwide, initially becoming a number 1 hit in Iceland, before reaching number 1 in both Australia and New Zealand in early 1990.[3]

In 1993, following its appearance in the American film Benny & Joon, the song was released in North America and many other countries around the world, it reached the top five in both the United States and Canada.[4] In 2007, the Proclaimers re-recorded the song with English comedians Peter Kay and Matt Lucas for the UK's Comic Relief charity telethon, scoring a number one hit in the UK, outperforming their original UK singles performance.

"I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" has become a live staple at the Proclaimers' concerts. The duo played it at Edinburgh 50,000 – The Final Push at Murrayfield Stadium on 6 July 2005, the final concert of Live 8, to symbolise the conclusion of "The Long Walk to Justice".

Background

The song was mainly written by Craig Reid in mid-1987 while waiting to travel to a Hibernian Football Club match in Aberdeen. Reid recalled, "I can remember sitting at the piano wondering how many steps it would be to the new classroom (I originally thought 83) and the chords just came to me. I reckon I wrote the whole thing in 45 minutes. I knew that it was a good song, maybe even a single, but I had no idea how popular it would become."[5] Reid has said that the band's earnings from the song are about five times the rest of their catalogue combined.[3]

Track listing

All tracks written and composed by Charlie and Craig Reid, except where noted.

  • 7" single
    1. "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" – 3:37
    2. "Better Days" – 3:14
  • 12" single
    1. "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" – 3:37
    2. "Better Days" – 3:14
    3. "Teardrops" – 2:33
  • CD single
    1. "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" – 3:37
    2. "Better Days" – 3:14
    3. "Teardrops" – 2:33
    4. "I Can't Be Myself" (Merle Haggard) – 2:30

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[19] Gold 400,000‡
United States (RIAA)[21] Gold 800,000[20]

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Comic Relief version

"(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles"
Single by The Proclaimers featuring Brian Potter & Andy Pipkin
Released17 March 2007
Recorded1988, 2007
Genre
Length3:41
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)
  • Charlie Reid
  • Craig Reid
The Proclaimers singles chronology
"Restless Soul"
(2005) 		"(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles"
(2007) 		"Life with You"
(2007)
Peter Kay singles chronology
"(Is This The Way To) Amarillo"
(2005) 		"(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles"
(2007) 		"The Winner's Song"
(2008)
Comic Relief singles chronology
""Walk This Way"
Girls Aloud vs. Sugababes"
(2007) 		""(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles"
The Proclaimers featuring Brian Potter & Andy Pipkin"
(2007) 		""Just Can't Get Enough"
The Saturdays"
(2009)

In 2007, the Proclaimers re-recorded the song with Peter Kay and Matt Lucas as their characters Brian Potter from Phoenix Nights and Andy Pipkin from Little Britain respectively. There is a slight change in the title of the song, with the parentheses placed around "I'm Gonna Be" rather than "500 Miles". The lyrics also include a change, with the words "roll 500 miles" replacing "walk 500 miles", because the characters Brian Potter and Andy Pipkin are both in wheelchairs. "(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles" was released as a charity single for Comic Relief immediately following its performance on the Comic Relief 2007: The Big One television show on BBC1 on 16 March 2007.[22] It reached number 3 on the official UK Singles Chart on download sales alone, and one week later reached number 1, where it remained for three weeks. It sold 126,000 copies in its first week, making it the biggest selling number one of the year up to that point.[23] Its sales were double that of the official Comic Relief single by Girls Aloud vs. Sugababes, and their cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way". The song ended 2007 as the year's 8th biggest-selling single in the UK.[24] The song was popular in Ireland as well, and peaked at #7 in Irish Singles Chart.

Kay also directed a video clip of the song featuring himself as Brian Potter, Lucas as Andy, David Walliams as Lou, The Proclaimers and an audience of celebrity guests, comprising Johnny Ball, David Beckham, David Bellamy, Dusty Bin, Tony Blackburn, Stan Boardman, Basil Brush, Bob the Builder, Holly Willoughby, Bucks Fizz, Cannon and Ball, Bob Carolgees & Spit the Dog, Jasper Carrott, Keith Chegwin, Jimmy Cricket, Tess Daly, Bobby Davro (referred to in the lyrics), Carol Decker, Sally Dynevor, Lesley Garrett, Andy Gray, Clare Grogan, Paul Henry, Frazer Hines, Siobhan Redmond (credited as "Her off Holby City"), Elton John, The Krankies, Burt Kwouk, Bonnie Langford, Eddie Large, Michael Le Vell, Limahl, Kenny Lynch, Des Lynam, Timmy Mallett, Jennie McAlpine, Bill Oddie, Paul O'Grady, Postman Pat, Wendi Peters, Robert Powell, Rod, Jane and Freddy, Rupert the Bear, Showaddywaddy, Status Quo, Frank Sidebottom, Sonia, Dennis Taylor, David Tennant, Willie Thorne, Kate Thornton, Dave Lee Travis, Martin Tyler, Roy Walker, Louis Walsh, Pete Waterman, Elton Welsby, June Whitfield, Gary Wilmot and Bob Wilson. Osama bin Laden (then still a fugitive terrorist), Lord Lucan (missing since 1974) and Shergar (a kidnapped race horse) are also falsely credited as appearing in the video.

Track listing

  • CD single
  1. "(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles" – 3:41
  2. "(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles" (1988 Original Version) – 3:39

The enhanced CD and DVD also featured the promotional video for the song and a photo gallery.

Charts and certifications

  • The song is played whenever a goal is scored by German football club SV Werder Bremen

The song was also very popular in Spain in the late 1990s thanks to TV advertisements. It was a reference song for the ads of Retevisión, one of the first private telecommunications companies in Spain.[34]

The song features in an episode of Family Guy from 2006, entitled You May Now Kiss the...Uh...Guy Who Receives, season 4 episode 25. During one of the show's trademark cutaways, Peter Griffin is seen singing the song with the Proclaimers in a recording studio, before getting irritated with them not singing it his way and attacking one of them, causing the song to end.

The song is also featured on the How I Met Your Mother episode "Arrivederci, Fiero", in which it is revealed that the character Marshall has had a cassette tape with the song on it stuck in his car for years. Commentary on the song's unlimited replay value follows. It remained a running gag for the rest of the series.[citation needed]

This song is also featured on the Grey's Anatomy episode in season 9 "Readiness is All" when Matthew proposes to April in a surprise flash mob to this song.[citation needed]

At the closing ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, after the Commonwealth Games Federation flag was handed over to Lord Smith of Kelvin, representative of the next Commonwealth Games to be held in Glasgow, 350 performers from Scotland perform in a 10-minute segment displaying Scottish culture. The performance ended with the inflatable structure morphing into the Loch Ness Monster and the cast then exited the stadium to the tune of "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)".[35]

The song is featured in the movies Bachelorette, Identity Thief, Benny & Joon, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Burke and Hare, Sunshine on Leith, and Peter Rabbit. It is also featured in the movie The Angels' Share directed by Ken Loach, which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012.[citation needed]

A cover of the song was recorded by Down by Law on their album Punkrockacademyfightsong.[citation needed]

The song is sung in the television series The Cafe by Ralf Little and cast to close out the final episode of season one, "Deal or No Deal".[citation needed]

The song is also sung in the 2014 Australian film 500 Miles by the lead actor Pete Valley to the lead actress Ebony Nave in a quite iconic scene that is set in a small country town pub.[citation needed]

In 2014, Imagine Dragons performed a live cover of the song at the T in the Park music festival in Scotland. A YouTube video of the performance has more than 6.6 million views as of October 2018.[36]

  • In 2014, the Youtube group "Element Animation" created a parody of the song called "500 Chunks". However the song had been taken down due to a copyright complaint.[37]

In 2015, Budweiser's Super Bowl ad features a cover version of this song by Sleeping at Last. In the same year it also laid the basis for song "Magna Carta 800 Years", which was a tribute to Magna Carta in the rebooted version of Horrible Histories.[citation needed]

In November 2016, Nickelodeon parodied the song to promote the premiere of the Blaze and the Monster Machines episode "The 100 Mile Race".

This song appears in a commercial for Lunchables as a promotion for their new product, "kabobbles".[citation needed]

The song appeared in the fourth episode of Hindsight.[citation needed]

The song appears in commercials for the 2015 Volkswagen Golf and 2017 Ford Edge.

In 2018, the Scottish government created a public awareness film with Carol Smillie singing a modified version of the song to educate Scots on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).[38]

References

  1. ^ "The Proclaimers – I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)". Discogs. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  2. ^ Ygelsias, Matthew. "The Ultimate Nineties Alt-Rock Playlist". The Atlantic.
  3. ^ a b Simpson, Dave (10 August 2015). "The Proclaimers: how we made I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)". theguardian.com. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  4. ^ a b "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers". toponehitwonders.com. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  5. ^ Thrills, Adrian (23 March 2007). "What a Relief! It's No.1 at Last". The Daily Mail. London, England: Daily Mail and General Trust.
  6. ^ "The Proclaimers – I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  7. ^ "The Proclaimers – I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  8. ^ "The Proclaimers – I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  9. ^ "RPM Top Singles, August 28, 1993". RPM, Vol. 58 No. 7. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 18 January 2015. {{cite journal}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  10. ^ "Tonlist Top 10". DV. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  11. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – I'm Gonna Be". Irish Singles Chart.
  12. ^ "The Proclaimers – I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)". Top 40 Singles.
  13. ^ "The Proclaimers – I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)". Swiss Singles Chart.
  14. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  15. ^ "The Proclaimers Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  16. ^ "ARIA Charts - End of Year Charts - Top 50 Singles 1989".
  17. ^ "The Official New Zealand Music Chart".
  18. ^ "RPM 100 Hit Tracks of 1993". RPM. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  19. ^ id MUST BE PROVIDED for UK CERTIFICATION.
  20. ^ "Best-Selling Records of 1993". Billboard. 106 (3). BPI Communications: 73. 15 January 1994. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  21. ^ "American single certifications – Proclaimers – I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)". Recording Industry Association of America.
  22. ^ "Stars unite for Comic Relief show". BBC News. 17 March 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  23. ^ "Singles – 31.03.07: The Proclaimers". Music Week. London, England: UBM. 31 March 2007.
  24. ^ a b "The 2007 Official Singles Chart". Music Week. London, England: UBM: 11. 12 January 2008.
  25. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)". Irish Singles Chart.
  26. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  27. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  28. ^ id MUST BE PROVIDED for UK CERTIFICATION.
  29. ^ "Benny & Joon (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Rachel Portman". itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  30. ^ "Pitch Perfect Guetta - Titanium vs. Proclaimers - 500 miles vs. Midnight Oil - Beds r burning".
  31. ^ "Coral Masters darts tournament comes to Ingliston". Edinburgh News. 1 November 2013. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  32. ^ "Dec 30, 1997 Setlist - Phish.net". Phish Net. 21 February 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  33. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c6qENWh2jQ
  34. ^ Freemancos (28 August 2007). "Retevision - Spot telefono a las estrellas" – via YouTube.
  35. ^ "Glasgow calling after Delhis Perfect 10 - Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  36. ^ "Imagine Dragons - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) live at T in the Park 2014". YouTube.
  37. ^ Element Animations (5 January 2014). "Bad news! 500 Chunks has been taken down from YouTube and iTunes due to a copyright complaint. UK copyright law needs looser laws on parody!".
  38. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-43689518

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