Following the reveal of their special, previously unreleased single “Love Actually” earlier this month, Keane have released its accompanying lyric video.
Coinciding with the 20th Anniversary celebrations of their acclaimed debut album Hopes and Fears, the beautifully poignant single’s stunning lyric video cuts some of the memorable scenes of the classic British film Love Actually which turns 20 as well.
As previously reported, “Love Actually” was originally written for 2003 Christmas romantic comedy, the band finally recorded a version 20 years after its inception which was produced by the band and led by Tom Chaplin’s undeniable vocals.
Tim Rice-Oxley of Keane said:
In 2002 we were an unsigned band; and our friend and manager Adam was working for the producer of Love Actually. While they were making the film, Adam suggested we should quickly write a song and he’d see if he could get it into Richard Curtis’ hands…and maybe we could sneak onto the soundtrack and get our big break! Needless to say it didn’t turn out that way, but Richard always very graciously said he loved the song and wished he’d put it in the film. We all loved the song too, but having called it ‘Love Actually’, it was very hard to do anything with it! In fact, for 20 years whenever I’ve played a new demo to my mum, her response has usually been “Hmm…when are you going to record ‘Love Actually’?” Well, the film Love Actually is 20 years old now, which at last gives us a perfect reason to record our song properly.
Richard Curtis, writer and director of Love Actually said:
Everyone makes mistakes – even if they’re understandable ones. When I first listened to ‘Love Actually’ by this totally unknown combo called Keane, I thought it was beautiful. I tried really hard to put it in the film – but in the end it was a little melancholy and, dare I say, a bit DEEP for the film I’d made. Of course, I realized what a dreadful mistake that had been when six months later Hopes and Fears was Number 1 in the charts. It is SO wonderful that the song is now being released for everyone to hear. I’ve listened to it a lot over the years and love it even more now than I did then. And this time, myself and my son Spike have made a little edit of the whole film to go with the song. I think I actually prefer that three minute version of ‘Love Actually’ to the long, chaotic film that’s been doing the rounds now for 20 years.