In the Christmas Spirit: Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders do " 2000 Miles" ... A Christmas Classic? | Eastern North Carolina Now

    I don't know how this one got by me in my recent years of putting together Christmas vignettes in melody, but, it did. And, through the 1980's, The Pretenders were a band I listened to along some others of that day, and all the many from my formative era of appreciating music: 1962 through 1976, where music was at its very best in the 20th century. And then came Disco, where The Pretenders did help assuage the melodic mess of that time.

    The melody is a pattern of simple musical scales honed into an original composition bolstering the simple, poignant, lyrics of a message of season and hope. At the base of the melody are three simple guitar chords G, C, D (even "House of the Rising Sun" has more - 6 chords), but the simple melody works, and Chrissie Hynde's vocal phrasing is outstanding, as she controls the range beyond the three simple chords.

Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders perform "2000 Miles", with a small orchestral arrangement.

    Simple? I think I just got the gist of the tune, and will probably have it completely by the end of the day (it I find the time), and I am quite the novice. Now, if only James Taylor's tunes were this simple to master.

    It just goes to show one that simple can sometimes communicate as well as complex.

2000 Miles

               lyrics by Chrissie Hynde     melody by The Pretenders
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 Christmastime

In 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 Christmastime

Two 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 Christmastime
I hear people singing
It must be Christmastime

Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders in this official music video of 2000 miles.


    Publisher's note: If you are really in the Christmas spirit, or just in the need for more, please click here to access all of the holiday spirit in melody and narrative that BCN can harness and offer for this Yuletide Season.