Retro Video of the Week: "2000 Miles" by The Pretenders

What will, in all likelihood, be the last Retro Video of the Week for 2018 is a another holiday classic.  In November 1983, The Pretenders released "2000 Miles" as a single, and it would also appear on the band's 1984 classic album, Learning to Crawl.  In the U.S., it was released as the B-side to "Middle of the Road," and while it didn't chart in the U.S. (separately from being part of "Middle of the Road"), "2000 Miles" was a Top 40 song in the UK (#15), Netherlands (#13), Australia (#30), and New Zealand (#36).

Anyone who has heard the song knows it's a sad Christmas song.  I had always assumed it was about the struggles of being in a long-distance relationship around the holidays (perhaps hitting close to home for members of a popular rock band touring) or maybe even a subversive tongue-in-cheek song from the view of Mrs. Claus about Santa and his various time commitments (but "he'll be back at Christmas").  Turns out, it's much sadder than that.  Chrissie Hynde wrote the song about the band's original guitarist, James Honeyman-Scott, who had died the year before at the age of 25, as a result of cocaine-induced heart failure.  I suppose that's why it's snowing in the video.