I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

Album

Sunshine on Leith

Label

Chrysalis Records

Genre

Celtic music

Composer(s)

Charlie Reid;Craig Reid

Entered Chart

Jun 12, 1993

Peak Date

Aug 21, 1993

Released

August 1988

Recorded

Studio Chipping Norton (Oxfordshire, England)

Catalog #

Chrysalis 24846

B-Side

Better Days

The Proclaimers are the Scottish twins Craig and Charlie Reid. This is their only hit in America, but four of their other songs made the UK Top 40, including their first hit, "Letter From America," which went to #3 in 1987. This song is about being devoted to a woman and wanting to spend the rest of your life with her. And it's all sung in a Scottish accent. In the line "I'm gonna be the one who's havering for you," 'havering' means babbling on. However, several US radio stations initially refused to play the song, as they thought 'havering' meant something much more naughty. This was written in 1988 and released on The Proclaimers album Sunshine On Leith. It became a hit when the song was used in the 1993 movie Benny And Joon, starring Johnny Depp and Mary Stuart Masterson. Craig and Charlie Reid wrote the bulk of the song while they were sitting in a flat in Edinburgh waiting for a lift to a gig in Aberdeen. Craig Reid in the Daily Mail, March 23, 2007: "I can remember sitting at the piano and the chords just came to me. I reckon I just 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." Report this ad This was a hit in the US after being featured in the movie Benny & Joon after the director heard the song being played on his personal stereo by Mary Ann Waterston. The Proclaimers had no idea it would be featured in the film. The song topped the charts of Australia, Iceland, and New Zealand. This song was adopted as a theme song by Hibernian Football Club in Scotland. In March 2007 The Proclaimers teamed up with British comedians Peter Kay and Matt Lucas to release a new version for the charity Comic Relief, which topped the UK charts. Peter Kay stars as his wheelchair bound character the Phoenix Club boss Brian Potter and Matt Lucas in turn appears as his similarly wheelchair bound Little Britain character Andy Pipkin. The comedians duet on the first 2 verses of the song before the Proclaimers take over. The original version returned to the British chart at #37 the same week the Comic Relief version entered the chart at #3 making The Proclaimers become the first act in over 20 years to chart simultaneously with two different recordings of the same song. The last person to achieve this was Lulu, who in the last week of July 1986 had both her original 1964 recording of "Shout" in the Top 75 alongside a brand new "86" version. By 2002, 500 miles just wasn't enough, as Vanessa Carlton used the same lyrical theme, but with twice the distance, in her song "A Thousand Miles." Country duo Haley & Michaels covered this for their 2014 eponymous debut EP. "When I heard it, I listened to it, and I felt like, 'Wait a second, this could take on a whole different meaning if a man and woman were singing it to each other,'" Haley said. "I bounced it off Ryan, and he had actually just heard it, and it was one of those things, it was on both of our minds, and we just started playing it to see what it would sound like." This was featured in a beloved Budweiser commercial that aired during the 2015 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. A sequel to the previous year's "Puppy Love" spot where the Budweiser Clydesdales befriend a golden retriever puppy, this one finds the dog getting lost, and the horses saving him from a wolf and guiding him home. The song was used to convey the lengths that living creatures will go for love. The version used in the commercial is a downtempo take on the song performed by Sleeping at Last, which is the one-man operation of Ryan O'Neal. He released the song in 2013.

When I wake up, well, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next you
When I go out, yeah, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you
If I get drunk, well, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you
And if I haver, yeah, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's haverin' to you

But I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

When I'm working, yes, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's working hard for you
And when the money comes in for the work I do
I'll pass almost every penny on to you
When I come home (when I come home), oh, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who comes back home to you
And if I grow old, well, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's growing old with you

But I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

Da-da, da da (da-da, da da)
Da-da, da da (da-da, da da)
Da-da-da dun, da-da-lun, da-da-lun, da-da-la da-da
Da-da, da da (da-da, da da)
Da-da, da da (da-da, da da)
Da-da-da dun, da-da-lun, da-da-lun, da-da-la da-da

When I'm lonely, well, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's lonely without you
And when I'm dreaming, well, I know I'm gonna dream
I'm gonna dream about the time when I'm with you
When I go out (when I go out), well, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you
And when I come home (when I come home), yes, I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who comes back home with you
I'm gonna be the man who's coming home with you

But I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

Da-da, da da (da-da, da da)
Da-da, da da (da-da, da da)
Da-da-da dun, da-da-lun, da-da-lun, da-da-la da-da (yeah)
Da-da, da da (da-da, da da)
Da-da, da da (da-da, da da)
Da-da-da dun, da-da-lun, da-da-lun, da-da-la da-da

Da-da, da da (da-da, da da)
Da-da, da da (da-da, da da)
Da-da-da dun, da-da-lun, da-da-lun, da-da-la da-da
Da-da, da da (da-da, da da)
Da-da, da da (da-da, da da)
Da-da-da dun, da-da-lun, da-da-lun, da-da-la da-da

And I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door