Video hit Vanessa Carlton

Vanessa Carlton - A Thousand Miles

"A Thousand Miles", originally titled "Interlude", is a pop song written by American singer Vanessa Carlton and recorded for her album Be Not Nobody (2002).

It was co-produced and co-arranged by Carlton and Ron Fair, and was released as the album's first single in 2002.

Her signature song, it became Carlton's breakthrough hit and one of the most popular songs of the year. To date, it remains Carlton's biggest hit in the United States, and her only single to reach the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100.

The song had widespread success worldwide, reaching number one in Australia, where it was most successful, the top five in the United States and Ireland, and the top ten in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and the Netherlands.

It has been covered by numerous artists including Victoria Justice, Never See Tomorrow, David Archuleta, as well as being sampled by T.I., Terry Crews, Cheryl Cole and James McGee.

The selection of the song's title was accompanied by a minor disagreement between Carlton and Fair, who was reportedly "adamant" about changing it. Fair said, "Vanessa Carlton is an incredible talent, but she's also very stubborn... I had to say, 'Look, I'm the president of the label, we're not calling it "Interlude". ' When you're trying to launch a career, people need a handle to pick things up from, and the word 'Interlude' is never in the song".

In its finished form, the song was first heard during a scene in the Reese Witherspoon film Legally Blonde (2001), and was featured on the film's soundtrack under the title "A Thousand Miles (Interlude)". The final title of the song, "A Thousand Miles", was based on a suggestion by Fair's nephew. After the song's completion, Fair said that he listened to it repeatedly and "it made me weep. That's usually my litmus test. If I cry, I know it's a hit".

Despite this, he was concerned that the song's piano basis would put it at a disadvantage in the marketplace if it were to be released as a single. Fair played "A Thousand Miles" in front of his superior Jimmy Iovine, the co-chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Iovine was very impressed with the song, and requested that a music video be filmed immediately for it. After the video had been completed it was presented to Tom Calderone, the Vice President of Programming for MTV, in early 2002.

Calderone expressed a desire to begin broadcasting the video at once and Fair agreed to his request, even though the album was still in production at the time and Carlton's marketing "image" had not yet been developed.

Promotion and chart performance

In the U.S. "A Thousand Miles" was released as a CD single on February 12 and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 later that month; it peaked at number five for three weeks in May and remained on the chart for 41 weeks.

The album Be Not Nobody was released on April 30 and, partly because of the popularity of "A Thousand Miles", debuted in the U.S. top five with first-week sales of over 101,000 copies.

It was 2002's sixth most-played single on U.S. radio (ranking sixth on the Hot 100 2002 year-end chart[6]), and sold well in other countries (where it was promoted and released over the summer months). It was a top five hit in Ireland and France, and managed to reach the top ten in other parts of Europe such as the United Kingdom, Italy and the Netherlands.

It was most popular in Australia, where it became the sixth most successful single of the year and held the number-one position on the ARIA Singles Chart for two weeks, from August 11 to August 24. It replaced a Junkie XL remix of "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley, and was itself replaced by Avril Lavigne's "Complicated". It also reached the top 20 in Germany. E! Online said the song was "a bona fide hit for good reason. Catchy pop on the surface, it has melodic complexity beneath that bodes well for repeated listening". It failed to chart in Japan.

Carlton told the website Contactmusic.com of the first time she watched the single's music video, in which she is seen playing the piano while traveling through a variety of settings: "I was in the studio and had just taken a break, when someone ran in the room and said, 'You're on MTV!' We put it on and I just stared at the screen. After a few minutes, I just covered my eyes and started to laugh. It seemed so surreal. The night after that, I heard the song on the radio for the first time. It was all so unbelievable."

It received heavy airplay on the channel following its premiere on the top-ten video program Total Request Live in early January, and was popular enough to be retired from the show's countdown.

There was speculation that bluescreen techniques had been utilized during its creation, but according to Carlton it was "100 percent real"; she also said she felt that Marc Klasfeld (the video's director) "captured who I was in that video", and he was selected to direct the video for the album's follow-up single, "Ordinary Day".

Both the album and single were given substantial promotion on the Internet. AOL Music reported that a 20-minute selection of video content involving Carlton that the website had hosted, including the "A Thousand Miles" video and Carlton's performance of the song for Sessions@AOL, drew over one million requested downloads and streams prior to the release of Be Not Nobody.

The Sessions recording of "A Thousand Miles" was later included on the album Sessions @ AOL, released in October 2003. The single version was featured on the hits compilation Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 10 in the U.S., and the 53rd volume of the NOW! series in the UK.

Music video

The music video was filmed in Newbury Park, California and begins with Carlton going into her garage and throwing a sheet off her piano. She starts playing and the song begins, and while she's playing, the piano starts moving outside near parades downtown, joggers out on the road, through the beach, and other parts of the city. At the end of the video, she's back in her garage where the video began and she gets up and leaves the garage.

The lyrics:

Making my way downtown, walking fast

Faces pass and I'm home bound

Staring blankly ahead, just making my way

Making a way through the crowd

And I need you

And I miss you

And now I wonder

If I could fall into the sky

Do you think time would pass me by?

'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles

If I could just see you

Tonight

It's always times like these when I think of you

And I wonder if you ever think of me

'Cause every thing's so wrong and I don't belong

Living in your precious memory

'Cause I need you

And I miss you

And now I wonder

If I could fall into the sky with birdies

Do you think time would pass me by

'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles

If I could just see you

Tonight

And I, I

Don't wanna let you know

I, I

Drown in your memory

I, I

Don't wanna let this go

I, I don't

Making my way downtown, walking fast

Faces pass and I'm home bound

Staring blankly ahead, just making my way

Making a way through the crowd

And I still need you

And I still miss you

And now I wonder

If I could fall into the sky

Do you think time would pass us by?

'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles

If I could just see you

If I could fall into the sky

Do you think time would pass me by?

'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles

If I could just see you

If I could just hold you

Tonight