To its credit, the 1983 Pretenders single 2000 Miles does not immediately sound like a Christmas song, although there is a choir effect and some bell like instrumentation. It does mention the word Christmas more than once, however, along with snow and children, and seems to be dealing with one of the perennial Christmas issues - being separated from a loved one over the otherwise happiest of seasons. The song does not quite give it away, but it was apparently written in memory of founder member and guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, who had died the previous June aged only 25. If this is so then the song is dealing with an even bigger perennial issue, bereavement at Christmas time. It offers no real solution but simply observes that the loved one is gone 2000 miles or whatever, which is indeed very far. Inevitably, the one left behind says "I miss you" as they think of the dead person wherever they go. Happiness goes on all around and the bereaved one even joins in to some extent but the nearest they get to seeing the one they would really like to see is in a dream. The snow works well as a metaphor as while diamonds sparkle in it, it does get colder rather than warmer in winter and there are frozen and silent nights. A slow number, full of wonderfully jangling guitars, it somehow manages to sound optimistic despite the loss.
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