Snow Patrol on 20 years of Chasing Cars, and their 'non-duet' with Kylie

Twenty years ago, in a garden shed belonging to producer Jacknife Lee, Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody began writing what would become their most iconic song, "Chasing Cars." The process, fueled by wine, was initially an exercise in writing for other artists, a method Lightbody found eased the pressure.

"We wrote 10 songs in a couple of hours, over quite a few bottles of wine," Lightbody recalled. "It was essentially a session for other people and sometimes, that takes the pressure off because you're not thinking about how you're going to record it, or what it means to have that song become part of your life."

“

We wrote 10 songs in a couple of hours, over quite a few bottles of wine

Amidst this relaxed creative session, Lightbody stumbled upon a chord sequence and a lyric that shifted the atmosphere: "If I lay here / If I just lay here / Would you lie with me and just breathe in the world?" This moment marked the birth of a song that would propel Snow Patrol onto the global stage. Lightbody described the experience as "following it along like little ducklings."

The journey to perfect "Chasing Cars" was not immediate. Despite its deceptively simple arrangement, the song underwent months of refinement. Early versions of the lyrics, which Lightbody hopes have been destroyed, were reportedly quite different and stemmed from personal rejection. An embryonic version recorded in Seattle in 2005 reveals lyrics about being told "Not right now" by a woman who had rejected his advances.

“

It was essentially a session for other people and sometimes, that takes the pressure off because you're not thinking about how you're going to record it, or what it means to have that song become part of your life.

The song's title itself was borrowed from a phrase Lightbody's father used to describe his son's unsuccessful love life: "You're like a dog chasing a car. You'll never catch it and you wouldn't know what to do with it if you did." Released in June 2006 as the second single from their album "Eyes Open," "Chasing Cars" initially peaked at number six on the singles chart. Its popularity surged dramatically after being featured in the US medical drama "Grey's Anatomy."

“

If I lay here / If I just lay here / Would you lie with me and just breathe in the world?

"Chasing Cars" has since become a monumental success, streamed more than two billion times and named the UK's most-played radio song of the 21st Century. It ranks as the UK's eighth best-selling song of the 2000s, with approximately 1.2 million copies sold. "The numbers are ridiculous," Lightbody admitted. "It doesn't make any sense in any kind of real way where you can go, 'These are the things that we did to become successful'. All of it happened by accident."

To commemorate the song's 20th anniversary, Snow Patrol will perform two shows at the Royal Albert Hall later this year. These concerts will feature the band playing "Eyes Open" in its entirety, alongside deep cuts and greatest hits, with potential special guests.

“

It's the song that took us to the whole world. We just followed it along like little ducklings.