Such Great Heights
"Such Great Heights" is a song by American indie pop band The Postal Service. It was released as the lead single from their debut studio album, Give Up, in 2003 through Sub Pop Records. The single includes a previously unreleased track, "There's Never Enough Time", and two cover tracks by The Shins and Iron & Wine of "We Will Become Silhouettes" and "Such Great Heights", respectively.
"Such Great Heights"
"There's Never Enough Time"
Jan. 21, 2003
2002
4:26
The Postal Service
"Such Great Heights" ranked 27 on Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of the Decade list.[1]
Background[edit]
"Such Great Heights" came together late in the recording process, and was one of the last songs the duo completed in June 2002.[2] Its genesis came together "incredibly quickly," according to Gibbard, who felt it "seemingly came out of nowhere. It did feel that there was some sort of spiritual transcendence happening and the song being beamed down to me."[3] For Gibbard, the song was a thematic departure from his more melancholy subject matter: "I think 'Such Great Heights' is the first time I've ever written a positive love song," he told Rolling Stone, "where it's a song about being in love and how it's rad, rather than having your heart broken."[4]
The song was written by Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello, and recorded in early 2002. The final recordings include backing vocals in the studio recording by Jen Wood, whose other collaborations include work for The Black Heart Procession and Joan of Arc. The single for "Such Great Heights" was the first CD released by The Postal Service, featuring cover artwork designed by Kozyndan. The release of the single served as a preview for the band's album, Give Up, which was released a month later.
Commercial performance[edit]
"Such Great Heights" was the band's first single; both Gibbard and Tamborello both jokingly referred to it as "the hit" of the album, presaging its eventual popularity.[2] The duo had hoped to offer more to listeners than a typical A/B-side release, and Sub Pop labelmates the Shins and Iron & Wine agreed to cover two of the group's songs. Iron & Wine's rendition of "Such Great Heights" aided in boosting the song's profile. Both versions were simultaneously popular, with Iron & Wine's version used in the film and soundtrack for Garden State, as well as in television advertisement for M&M's. The original version was licensed for commercials for Target, Ask.com, UPS, and Kaiser Permanente.[20]
It debuted on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Sales chart, a ranking which only tallied physical sales, at number 30 on February 8, 2003.[21] It rose to its peak position of number 21 the following week, and slowly fell after that.[22] In total, the song spent eleven weeks on the chart.[23]
The success of "Such Great Heights" was a grassroots approach. For example, in Boston, local independent retailer Newbury Comics campaigned for the city's alternative station, WFNX, to put the song on the air.[24] Two of the first stations to broadcast the tune were KCRW in Los Angeles and KITS in San Francisco.[25] In January 2004, influential Los Angeles alternative station KROQ-FM began playing "Such Great Heights",[26] which bolstered the album's popularity. Sub Pop offered a free download of the song on their official website, which had been downloaded over nine million times by August 2005.[27] Sub Pop A&R director Tony Kiewel was told by executives that the song had high "burn factor"—radio terminology for a song that listeners might quickly grow tired of.[28]
Despite this, "Such Great Heights" continued to sell. The single had sold over 25,000 copies by August 2004,[25] and was later certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over 500,000 copies, in June 2005.[29] The grassroots approach was also apparent in radio airplay; while it originally peaked at #44 on the Radio and Records Alternative chart[30] in 2004, its airplay was so persistent that it managed to break into the chart again in 2005, peaking that time at #50.[31]