"Light Years" | ||||
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Single by Jamiroquai | ||||
from the album The Return of the Space Cowboy | ||||
B-side | "We Gettin' Down" | |||
Released | 20 February 1995 | |||
Genre | Funk | |||
Length | 5:53 | |||
Label | Sony Soho Square, Work | |||
Songwriter(s) | Jay Kay, Toby Smith | |||
Producer(s) | Rick Pope | |||
Jamiroquai singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Light Years" on YouTube |
"Light Years" is a song by the British funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai, originally released in 1994 as a song from their second studio album, The Return of the Space Cowboy (1994). It was released as a single on 12 February 1995 by Sony Soho Square and Work, but failed to chart on the UK Singles Chart due to little promotion of the track.
In the United States, the song peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, mainly because the American version of the physical single features three mixes of the song by popular producer David Morales. The American release of The Return of the Space Cowboy also features a live version of "Light Years", performed in Marseille in December 1994, as a bonus track. Two main versions of the song exist: the radio edit, running at 3:59, and an album version, which lasts for 5:53. The music video for the track shows the band snowboarding down St. Anton. Whilst many of the David Morales mixes remain unreleased in the United Kingdom, an edited version of the True Power Mix was available in the region on a mini 3-inch CD, only available through the Coca-Cola Euro '96 promotion. [1]
Larry Flick wrote in a Billboard review of the single, "Jamiroquai complements a horn-riddled funk throwdown with savvy remixes that flirt with mainstream house and hip-hop concepts without eliminating the quirky tone of the original version." [2] Pan-European magazine Music & Media commented, "When J.K quotes his master by saying "now I get that sunshine in my life", we don't have to tell you what the best track off Space Cowboy sounds like. Wonderful, of course, and soulful." [3] Roger Morton from NME felt it "gets its funky piano ass out to expose some sunshine-of-my-life spiritedness". [4]
A music video was produced to promote the single, directed by Christian Stevenson. [5] It was later made available on Jamiroquai's official YouTube channel in 2009 and had generated almost 1 million views as of October 2021. [6]
Chart (1995–1996) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (ARIA)[ citation needed ] | 112 |
US Dance Club Songs ( Billboard ) [9] | 6 |
US Dance Singles Sales ( Billboard ) [10] | 38 |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 20 February 1995 |
| Sony Soho Square | [11] |
Japan | 21 May 1995 | CD | Epic | [12] |
United States | 13 February 1996 | Rhythmic contemporary radio | Work | [13] |
The Return of the Space Cowboy is the second album by English funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai. The album was released on 17 October 1994 under Sony Soho Square. The album continues the musical direction of their debut, Emergency on Planet Earth (1993), and is characterised by its complex songwriting as a result of Jay Kay's creative block mid-production. Its lyrics addressed street life, hope, loss, Kay's drug use, and social matters regarding Native Americans and youth protests.
Travelling Without Moving is the third studio album by English funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai, released on 28 August 1996 in Japan, then on 9 September 1996 in the United Kingdom under Sony Soho Square. Front-man Jay Kay intended for the album to have a more universal style, revolving around "cars, life and love". Critics have generally praised the album for being more focused and refined than the band's previous work while others panned its lyrics and found the album too derivative. Kay also faced backlash from the press for his use of sports cars in this period despite his environmental beliefs.
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"Space Cowboy" is the international lead single from British funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai's second studio album, The Return of the Space Cowboy (1994). Released on 26 September 1994 by Sony Soho Square, the single peaked at number 17 on the UK Singles Chart, number six in Italy, and number three in Iceland. In the United States, it gave the band their first number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. In June 2006, it re-entered the UK Dance Chart at number one. Its music video was directed by Vaughan Arnell and Anthea Benton. The single contains remixes by David Morales, which further put the single in club circulation.
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