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.