"High"
Single by Lighthouse Family
from the album Postcards from Heaven
Released29 December 1997 (1997-12-29)
RecordedAugust 1997[1]
Studio
Genre
Length5:13
Label
Songwriter(s)Paul Tucker
Producer(s)Mike Peden
Lighthouse Family singles chronology
"Raincloud"
(1997)		 "High"
(1997)		 "Lost in Space"
(1998)
Music video
"High" on YouTube

"High" is a song by British musical duo Lighthouse Family from their second album, Postcards from Heaven (1997). The song was produced by Mike Peden and was released on 29 December 1997 as the second single from the album. "High" is the most successful single released by the Lighthouse Family, reaching number four on the UK Singles Chart, number eight in New Zealand, and number one in Australia. In Europe, the song reached the top 10 in at least eight countries.

Background

In March 2021, songwriter Paul Tucker told the Official Charts Company the story behind the song:[2]

"High was probably the most difficult song to write of all of them. Without getting too heavy, my wife lost a baby on New Year's Eve in 1996, the year that the album [Ocean Drive] was a hit. Lifted was a hit and Ocean Drive was a hit. It was the first week in 1997 I started writing High, and I had the bit: 'One day we're gonna get so high'. That was the same week – and this is absolutely incidental, it’s nothing to do with the song - although a Newcastle United fan might think it is – that Kevin Keegan left Newcastle United. I just remember that week so well because of what happened.

It took about eight months to write the song. When we did Ocean Drive there was no pressure, we hadn't sold any records so nobody was expecting anything, whereas when we got to the second album which is what this was, there were a lot of people who were saying, 'this is huge, this is massive, this is the hit on the record.' And I hadn't even finished writing it, so immediately I'm under this enormous pressure.

We started recording Postcards from Heaven in March 1997 and we went to Miramont in France to start recording it. We were there until about June and the whole time I was sitting in the room on my own with a blank sheet of paper trying to write High and driving myself mad with it. Everybody kept saying 'have you done it yet?' and I hadn’t.

Then they took the recording back to London and SARM West, which is Trevor Horn's studio in Notting Hill, and we took the album back there to record the second batch of songs. The first batch had songs like Raincloud in it, while the second was songs like Sun in the Night and High. We recorded the backing tracks for all that stuff, we got the tunes together, we had the top, they had Tunde's vocals.

But before we went back to London, I spent a few weeks in Nice on my own to finish High - I have to be on my own to write lyrics – and I just couldn't get it together. Then I went back to London to work on it in SARM again. By the very last day of recording, we'd recorded all of the stuff on the second album apart from Tunde’s vocals on High. It was the last job to do and I still hadn't written the lyrics. I still hadn't written it.

The night before that, I just wrote down what I was thinking, which was, 'when you're close to tears remember someday it'll all be over'. It was how I felt, I just wanted to get this song over and done with. As soon as I’d written that the whole thing came together. It just fell into place. So in truth, High is actually a description of a very uncomfortable situation.

Critical reception

Chuck Taylor of Billboard wrote, "After being released in the U.K. nearly a year ago, this spiritual gem of a single is finally seeing the light of day here. One of many high points on the duo's delicious sophomore album, "Postcards From Heaven", "High" has been released to AC radio in its original form. For the clubs and dance radio, it has been lovingly reconstructed by two of clubland's most revered remixers: Boris Dlugosch and Francois Kevorkian. In its original state, "High" is a postcard-perfect R&B-splashed slice of pop music. In the hands of both Dlugosch and Kevorkian, it becomes an anthemic house inflected pop song. There is just no denying the song's buoyant beats, mahogany-hued vocals, and soaring rhythms. It's one of those songs that truly deserves to be a hit at both radio and clubs. If, as Faithless proclaims, God is a DJ, "High" is poised for much success."[3] Scottish newspaper Daily Record commented, "There's nothing like working to a formula. First they were lifted, now they're high".[4] A reviewer from Music Week gave the song four out of five, adding, "The anthemic backing vocals provide a slight twist, but otherwise there are no surprises here — the duo produce another single of fautless quality which radio will find impossible to ignore."[5]

Music video

A music video was made to accompany the song. The clip is in black and white, except when Tunde Baiyewu begins to sing. There are scenes of Paul Tucker getting off the train at Newcastle upon Tyne and exiting the city's Central Station. There are also scenes of Tunde singing in an autumn park and the Tynemouth beach, standing outside the Cruddas Park (now Riverside Dene) flats in Elswick, a girl lying and rolling on the grass while playing with flowers, and an abandoned house near Dungeness.

Filmed in North East England and Kent, the video shows some prominent local landmarks: the Tyne Bridge is shown at the very start along with the Quayside, and a number of shots of Baiyewu take place on the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge, Port Clarence and Haverton Hill, which is also the backdrop for the single covers.

Track listings

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[43] Platinum 70,000^
Belgium (BEA)[44] Gold 25,000*
Germany (BVMI)[45] Gold 250,000^
Italy (FIMI)[46] Gold 25,000‡
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[47] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[48] Platinum 600,000‡

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United Kingdom 29 December 1997
  • CD
  • cassette
[49]
United States 3 November 1998 Contemporary hit radio Island [50]

References

  1. ↑ Haskell, Duncan (20 January 2020). "How I wrote 'High' by Lighthouse Family's Paul Tucker". Songwriter Magazine. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  2. ↑ Copsey, Rob (15 March 2021). "How Lighthouse Family made High: "It was the most difficult of them all"". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  3. ↑ Taylor, Chuck (19 December 1998). "Reviews & Previews: Singles" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 110, no. 51. p. 21. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  4. ↑ "Chart Slot; Top 10 Singles". Daily Record. 9 January 1998.
  5. ↑ "Reviews: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 6 December 1997. p. 25. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  6. ↑ High (UK CD1 liner notes). Lighthouse Family. Wildcard Records, Polydor Records. 1997. 569 149-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ↑ High (UK CD2 liner notes). Lighthouse Family. Wildcard Records, Polydor Records. 1997. 569 151-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  8. ↑ High (UK cassette single sleeve). Lighthouse Family. Wildcard Records, Polydor Records. 1997. 569 148-4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  9. ↑ High (European CD single liner notes). Lighthouse Family. Wildcard Records, Polydor Records. 1997. 569 148-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. ↑ High (Australian CD single liner notes). Lighthouse Family. Wildcard Records, Polydor Records. 1997. 569 429-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ↑ "Lighthouse Family – High". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  12. ↑ "Lighthouse Family – High" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  13. ↑ "Lighthouse Family – High" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  14. ↑ "Lighthouse Family – High" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  15. ↑ "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 7937." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  16. ↑ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 15, no. 24. 13 June 1998. p. 11. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  17. ↑ "Lighthouse Family – High" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  18. ↑ "Top National Sellers" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 15, no. 9. 28 February 1998. p. 12. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  19. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Lighthouse Family". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  20. ↑ "Top National Sellers" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 15, no. 22. 30 May 1998. p. 11. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  21. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 25, 1998" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  22. ↑ "Lighthouse Family – High" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  23. ↑ "Lighthouse Family – High". Top 40 Singles.
  24. ↑ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  25. ↑ "Lighthouse Family – High". Singles Top 100.
  26. ↑ "Lighthouse Family – High". Swiss Singles Chart.
  27. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  28. ↑ "Official Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  29. ↑ "Adult Contemporary". Billboard. 26 December 1998. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  30. ↑ "Dance Club Songs". Billboard. 30 January 1999. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  31. ↑ "ARIA Top 100 Singles for 1998". ARIA. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  32. ↑ "Jahreshitparade Singles 1998" (in German).
  33. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten 1998" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  34. ↑ "Rapports annuels 1998" (in French). Ultratop.
  35. ↑ "RPM's Top 100 Adult Contemporary Tracks of '98". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  36. ↑ "Year in Focus – Eurochart Hot 100 Singles 1998" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 15, no. 51. 19 December 1998. p. 8. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  37. ↑ "Top 100 Single–Jahrescharts 1998" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  38. ↑ "Top 100–Jaaroverzicht van 1998". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  39. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1998" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  40. ↑ "Årslista Singlar, 1998" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  41. ↑ "Swiss Year-End Charts 1998" (in German). Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  42. ↑ "Best Sellers of 1998 – Singles Top 100". Music Week. 16 January 1999. p. 7.
  43. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1998 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
  44. ↑ "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – singles 1998". Ultratop. Hung Medien.
  45. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Lighthouse Family; 'High')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  46. ↑ "Italian single certifications – Lighthouse Family – High" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 25 November 2019. Select "2019" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "High" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli" under "Sezione".
  47. ↑ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('High')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
  48. ↑ "British single certifications – Lighthouse Family – High". British Phonographic Industry.
  49. ↑ "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 27 December 1997. p. 22. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  50. ↑ "New Releases". Radio & Records. No. 1272. 30 October 1998. p. 44.
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