Not Nobody: The Story of Vanessa Carlton's 'A Thousand Miles'

 


You know, one hit wonders get a bad rap. 


Chumbawumba’s Tubthumping, Crazy Town’s
Butterfly, Snow’s Informer, -
heck even Plain White Ts’ Hey There Delilah are
just a few examples off the top of my head of gimmicky little
songs that were the hottest songs in music for a number of weeks
or months, from bands and artists that could have been all the
rage - but fizzled out of the mainstream after just a single,
solitary hit. 


With that fizzling out often comes a sort of cultural negativity
- like “oh you liked that song? Gross - They’re a total flop.


And yes I know - plenty of artists have gone on to create
cult-followings post their mass-appeal ‘moment-in-the-sun’, and
not everyone can or even wants to be Taylor Swift; but in a
way, that’s kind of my point! 


A hit is a hit, and most of these artists shouldn’t be written
off as ones who simply didn’t have what it takes; and certainly
shouldn’t be maligned musically. 


Not for nothing, I’m willing to bet that at almost any wedding
you’ve ever been to - some of the biggest cheers of the night
came when the DJ dropped the needle on a one hit wonder. And sure
- you can chalk a bit of it up to a carefree mix of booze and
irony, but even a guilty pleasure is one that brings joy.


One such example of a ‘one hit wonder’ by an artist that truly
deserves their flowers is Vanessa Carlton’s quirky 2002 piano hit
‘A Thousand Miles’; and that is exactly what
we’re going to do today. 


This is the story of A Thousand Miles with newly unearthed audio
from Vanessa Carlton herself.


Written by Clayton Taylor for iHeartRadio Canada.