2000 Miles (Pretenders) – Megan Washington (from Carols by Candlelight 2024)

I was reminded of this beautiful song by Meg Washington’s stellar performance on Christmas Eve – Carols by Candlelight 2024 (from 57:30: in the video below). I have written a lot about the significance of this occasion in my recent Christmas Countdown and after my children and I ate our Christmas Dinner which I’m proud to exclaim I prepared and consisted of the following:

Turkey with plum sauce, Asparagus, Mashed Potatoes, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Capsicum (image inset) and Desert (drum roll) – Chocolate Cake – sugar free but still delicious.
It may well have been the first Christmas meal I prepared, but the votes are in and the computer says ‘Yes’. The kids devoured it like there was no tomorrow.

So where was I going with all this? Oh yes, after dinner we watched the highlights of Melbourne’s Christmas Carols which were presented Christmas Eve – Australian time. I have watched this presentation since I was wee-tacker and I think that the ‘2024 carols’ was the best I have seen. There were so many fantastic versions of the Carols which most of us are accustomed hearing, but the one that made the greatest impression on my son and I was Megan Washington’s – 2000 miles by the British-American rock band Pretenders. I have presented both versions below. Megan it seems, well at least to my senses, found the epicentre of this ballad and let it ride. I am still enamoured with it and for that reason I wanted to post it as soon as I could.

[Verse 1]
He’s gone
2,000 miles
Is very far
The snow is falling down
It’s colder day by day
I miss you

[Chorus]
The children were singing
He’ll be back at Christmastime

[Verse 2]
And these frozen and silent nights
Sometimes in a dream
You appear
Outside, under the purple sky
Diamonds in the snow
Sparkle

[Chorus]
Our hearts were singing
It felt like Christmastime

[Bridge]
2,000 miles
Is very far through the snow
I’ll think of you
Wherever you go

The following was extracted from the Wikipedia references below:

2000 Miles is a song by British-American rock band Pretenders and written by lead vocalist Chrissie Hynde. It was released on 18 November 1983 as the second single from their third studio album, Learning to Crawl. It was most popular in the UK, where it peaked at No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart. Influenced by Otis Redding’s “Thousand Miles Away“, the song was written a year after the band’s guitarist, James Honeyman-Scott, had died of a drug overdose in 1982. Hyde has noted that she thinks “the sense of distance in the lyrics” refers to Honeyman-Scott.

Megan Alexanda Washington (born 7 January 1986) – a fellow Capricorn – YAY… is an Australian musician, songwriter and voice actor who has worked mononymously as Washington. Originally performing jazz music, her style shifted to indie pop and alternative rock. From her four albums, two albums I Believe You Liar and There There reached the top 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Megan Alexanda Washington was born on 7 January 1986 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea to Australian parents. She grew up with her father, Rick Washington, a part-time DJ for “weddings, parties and balls“; her mother, Karen Amos, and an older sibling.

References:
1. Megan Washington – Wikipedia
2. 2000 miles – Wikipedia