History

The track was recorded during the A Northern Soul sessions at Olympic Studios in London, with strings recorded separately at Abbey Road Studios. Owen Morris produced the session with The Verve, and the arrangement featured Gavyn Wright and the London Session Orchestra. Released as the third single from A Northern Soul on 18 September 1995, it captured the band at the point of a difficult split and became one of the record’s defining statements. It reached No. 24 on the UK Singles Chart and helped cement the album’s reputation for grand, emotionally charged rock. Its string-led arrangement and bleak scale foreshadowed the more orchestral direction The Verve later took on Urban Hymns. The song remains a touchstone for the band’s mid-1990s peak and is still noted for its dramatic writing and production.