American Town

Album: Autumn Variations (2023)
Charted: 27
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Feet are three feet off the ground
    Lost in love and we don't wanna be found
    It's just you and me
    My English girl in an American town


    Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry Seaborn were classmates at Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham, Suffolk. They reconnected and fell in love while Sheeran was performing in the US, where she was living at the time. "American Town" finds Sheeran reflecting on the feelings of excitement and infatuation in those early days of their courtship.
  • Sheeran recorded "American Town" for Autumn Variations, his first record to evoke the feeling of a specific season. It was inspired in part by the warm and intimate moments he experienced at home with Cherry and their two daughters.

    "Me and Cherry cook a lot and we always put on the same sort of records, Norah Jones' Come Away With Me or Jack Johnson's In Between Dreams," Sheeran said in an interview with CBS Mornings. "That was very much wanting to go in and create an autumnal feeling or 14 stories about my friends."
  • Just before he released Autumn Variations, Ed Sheeran performed a snippet of "American Town" for Friends actress Courtney Cox, the partner of the English star's close friend and frequent collaborator, Johnny McDaid. Once Sheeran finished sing-rapping his snippet, Cox asked:

    "Wait, that was really about the show Friends?"

    "Well, inspired by it," he replied.
  • Autumn Variations was solely produced by Aaron Dessner of the band the National, except for the track "Spring," which he co-produced with his twin brother and band colleague Bryce. "I was always like, 'I don't have a record like this, that's just one producer, one mood, one feel,'" said Sheeran of Autumn Variations in an interview with CBS Mornings.
  • Aaron Dessner also produced Sheeran's previous album, Subtract, and collaborated with Taylor Swift on Folklore and Evermore.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Francesca Battistelli

Francesca BattistelliSongwriter Interviews

The 2011 Artist of the Year at the Dove Awards isn't your typical gospel diva, and she thinks that's a good thing.

Metallica

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Michelle Branch

Michelle BranchSongwriter Interviews

Michelle Branch talks about "Everywhere," "The Game Of Love," and her run-in with a Christian broadcasting network.

Jimmy Jam

Jimmy JamSongwriter Interviews

The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith

Steven Tyler of AerosmithSongwriter Interviews

Tyler talks about his true love: songwriting. How he identifies the beauty in a melody and turns sorrow into art.

Angelo Moore of Fishbone

Angelo Moore of FishboneSongwriter Interviews

Fishbone has always enjoyed much more acclaim than popularity - Angelo might know why.