Light Years (Jamiroquai song)

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"Light Years"
Single by Jamiroquai
from the album The Return of the Space Cowboy
B-side"We Gettin' Down"
Released20 February 1995 (1995-02-20)
GenreFunk
Length5:53
LabelSony Soho Square, Work
Songwriter(s)Jay Kay, Toby Smith
Producer(s)Rick Pope
Jamiroquai singles chronology
"Half the Man"
(1994) 		"Light Years"
(1995) 		"Stillness in Time"
(1995)
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.

Background[edit]

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]

Critical reception[edit]

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]

Music video[edit]

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]

Track listings[edit]

  • UK CD single[7]
  1. "Light Years" (edit) – 3:59
  2. "Scam" (live) – 5:13
  3. "Journey to Arnhemland" (live) – 5:39
  4. "We Gettin' Down" (live) – 9:31
  • US 12-inch vinyl[8]
A1. "Light Years" (Way Gone Mix)
A2. "Light Years" (True Power Mix)
B1. "Light Years" (4 to Da Floor Mix)
B2. "Light Years" (album version)
B3. "Light Years" (album instrumental)

Charts[edit]

Chart (1995–1996) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[citation needed] 112
US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[9] 6
US Dance Singles Sales (Billboard)[10] 38

Release history[edit]

Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United Kingdom 20 February 1995
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
 Sony Soho Square [11]
Japan 21 May 1995 CD Epic [12]
United States 13 February 1996 Rhythmic contemporary radio Work [13]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The Beautiful Game (1996, CD)". Discogs.
  2. ^ Flick, Larry (17 February 1996). "Light Years, a single by Jamiroquai". Billboard. Vol. 108. p. 88 – via ProQuest.
  3. ^ "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. 11 March 1995. p. 12. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  4. ^ Morton, Roger (22 October 1994). "Long Play". NME. p. 46. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  5. ^ "Jamiroquai: Light Years". IMDb. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  6. ^ "Jamiroquai – Light Years". 26 November 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2021 – via YouTube.
  7. ^ Light Years (UK CD single liner notes). Jamiroquai. Sony Soho Square. 1995. 661256 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  8. ^ Light Years (UK 12-inch vinyl disc). Jamiroquai. Work Group. 1995. XSS-7652.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  9. ^ "Jamiroquai Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  10. ^ "Jamiroquai Chart History (Dance Singles Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  11. ^ "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 18 February 1995. p. 31. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  12. ^ "ライト・イヤーズ | ジャミロクワイ" [Light Years | Jamiroquai] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  13. ^ "Selected New Releases" (PDF). Radio & Records. No. 1132. 9 February 1996. p. 34. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
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