Life in a Northern Town Dream Academy

A Salvation Army Band played
And Children drunk lemonade
And the morning lasted all day,
All day
And through an open window came
Like Sinatra in a younger day,
Pushing the town away
Ah-

(chant)
Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.

They sat on the stoney ground
And he took out a cigarette out
And everyone else came down
To listen.
He said "In winter 1963
It felt like the world would freeze
With John F. Kennedy
And The Beatles."

(Chant)
Ah- hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.
Ah hey ma ma ma
All the work shut down.

The evening had turned to rain
Watch the water roll down the drain,
As we followed him down
To the station
And though he never would wave goodbye,
You could see it written in his eyes
As the train pulled out of sight
Bye-bye

(Chant)
Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.
Ah hey ma ma ma
Life in a northern town.


Biography by Jason Ankeny

The airy, baroque British pop trio dubbed the Dream Academy emerged in the mid-'80s as one of the leading lights of the psychedelic revival movement. The group was led by vocalist/guitarist Nick Laird-Clowes, a former member of the short-lived Act; also comprised of multi-instumentalist Kate St. John (an alumna of the Ravishing Beauties) and keyboardist Gilbert Gabriel, the Dream Academy issued their eponymously titled debut LP in 1985. Co-produced by David Gilmour, the atmospheric lead single "Life in a Northern Town," an elegy for Nick Drake, quickly reached the Top 20 of the U.K. charts; issued in the U.S. the following year, it became a Top Ten hit.

The trio's follow-up single, "The Love Parade," failed to repeat the success of its predecessor, however, and the Dream Academy's commercial momentum stalled. After 1987's Rememberance Days quickly dropped from sight, the group went into seclusion; when their 1991 comeback A Different Kind of Weather failed to restore their chart luster, the Dream Academy promptly disbanded. In subsequent years, St. John was the trio's most visible graduate; in addition to touring with Van Morrison, she teamed with Roger Eno, Bill Nelson and others in the group Channel Light Vessel, and in 1996 issued her solo debut Indescribable Night.