This song is a male-female duet between the Cardigans' Nina Persson and the Manics' James Dean Bradfield.
The song's leap from #26 to #2 in the UK chart exactly mirrored the drop from #2 to #26 of the Manic Street Preacher's previous single release "Empty Souls" in January 2005.
The lyrics, "You stole the sun straight from my heart" are almost a direct quote from the Manics' 1999 single "You Stole the Sun from My Heart."
This was voted The Best Track of the Year at the 2007 Q Awards.
The line, "Trade all your heroes in for ghosts is a reference to Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," which contains the lyrics, "And did they get you to trade your heros for ghosts?"
The lyrics, "I could have seen for miles and miles, I could've shown you how to smile, I could've shown you how to cry" indicate a regret the is likely about Richey Edwards, the Manics guitarist who disappeared in 1995. It's likely that he killed himself.
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Suggestion credit: Keely - Doncaster, England, for above 2
Bassist and lyricist Nicky Wire told Q magazine June 2009 that this song is about "suicide and connections with people who are gone."
