"Farewell to the Fairground" is a song from London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 based indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 band, White Lies

White Lies (band)

White Lies is an English indie rock band from Ealing, London. Formerly known as Fear of Flying, the band consists primarily of Harry McVeigh , Charles Cave , and Jack Lawrence-Brown...

. It was released on 23 March 2009 through Fiction Records

Fiction Records

Fiction Records is a UK label founded by Chris Parry in 1978 that is best known for being the home of The Cure for over 20 years. Formerly independent, the label is now owned by Polydor, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.-History:...

. It is their third single from debut album To Lose My Life...

To Lose My Life...

To Lose My Life... is the debut album by the British Indie rock band White Lies. It was released on 19 January 2009, through Fiction Records...

, and fourth single overall. The band have recorded a video for the track with director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 Andreas Nilsson

Andreas Nilsson

Andreas Nilsson is an artist and director based in Malmö, Sweden, best known for his contributions to the music videos of The Knife, Fever Ray, MGMT, Goldfrapp, José González, White Lies, Peter, Björn & John, Moby and Bright Eyes.-2010:...

, filmed in Nikel

Nikel

Nikel is an urban locality and the administrative center of Pechengsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located on the shores of Lake Kuets-Yarvi northwest of Murmansk and from the Norwegian border. Population: 18,000 .-History:In the 1920 Treaty of Tartu, Soviet Russia ceded the area of...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. They have also released photographs of the shoot in an email newsletter to fans. A cover was also done by La Roux

La Roux

La Roux are an English electropop duo made up of singer, keyboardist, co-writer and co-producer Eleanor Kate Jackson, and co-writer and co-producer Ben Langmaid. Jackson describes their relationship as "very much a half and half sharing situation... not like a singer producer outfit", but also...

 .

History and release

The track was recorded along with nine other tracks in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

' ICP Studios between May and September 2008. In a track-by-track review of their debut album for NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

, the band stated that it was one of a number of tracks which were written particularly quickly during the recording process, having only recorded demo versions of five tracks prior to signing to Fiction

Fiction Records

Fiction Records is a UK label founded by Chris Parry in 1978 that is best known for being the home of The Cure for over 20 years. Formerly independent, the label is now owned by Polydor, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.-History:...

 and entering the studio. The band described the track as one of their more up-beat tracks, and that it would be released alongside various remixes. A remix of the song, titled "Farewell to the Fairground (Yuksek

Yuksek

Yuksek is a French electronic music producer, remixer and DJ born in 1977, native of Reims, France.After playing the piano for ten years at a conservatoire, he took part in several bands such as Klanguage, whose first album was released in 2007.He created his first tracks as Yuksek in 2006 and...

 remix)", had previously appeared as a b-side

A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

 to previous single "To Lose My Life

To Lose My Life (song)

"To Lose My Life" is a single by London Indie rock band White Lies. It was released on 12 January 2009, one week before the release of the band's debut album, To Lose My Life.... "To Lose My Life" was featured in the soundtrack of the 2009 game, DiRT 2. In May 2010, the show 90210 played this song...

". The single featured the band's cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of "Love Lockdown

Love Lockdown

"Love Lockdown" is a song by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released September 18, 2008 as the lead single of his studio album 808s & Heartbreak. Written and produced by West and musician Jeff Bhasker, it was premiered by West at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards prior to its release as a single...

" as a b-side, originally performed by Kanye West

Kanye West

Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...

. The single charted at #84 in the week of its release. It then rose to #33 the week after, becoming the bands highest ever charting single.

Track listing

CD

1. "Farewell to the Fairground" (Single Mix)
2. "Farewell to the Fairground" (Future Funk Squad's "Black Truth" Remix)

7" vinyl (1)

1. "Farewell to the Fairground" (Single Mix)
2. "Love Lockdown" (Radio 1 Live Lounge Version)

7" vinyl (2)

1. "Farewell to the Fairground" (Single Mix)
2. "Farewell to the Fairground" (Rory Phillips
   Rory Phillips
   Rory Allen Phillips is a founding member of punk-ska band, The Impossibles. Phillips also started The Stereo with Jamie Woolford of Animal Chin in 1999, and Slowreader with Impossibles bandmate Gabe Hascall in 2001...
   
    White Horse Mix)

iTunes EP

1. "Farewell to the Fairground" (Single Mix)
2. "Love Lockdown" (Radio 1 Live Lounge Version)
3. "Farewell to the Fairground" (Rory Phillips
   Rory Phillips
   Rory Allen Phillips is a founding member of punk-ska band, The Impossibles. Phillips also started The Stereo with Jamie Woolford of Animal Chin in 1999, and Slowreader with Impossibles bandmate Gabe Hascall in 2001...
   
    White Horse Mix)
4. "Farewell to the Fairground" (Disco Bloodbath Remix)

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak Position
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	33