Amazing (Alex Lloyd song)

"Amazing" is a song written by Australian singer-songwriter Alex Lloyd. The song was released on 17 September 2001 as the second single from his second studio album, Watching Angels Mend (2001). It was a success in Australia, reaching number 14, and in New Zealand, where it topped the singles chart in March 2002. It was also ranked number one on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2001, Australia's largest annual music poll. The song is an example of the evergreen 'four chords of pop' progression.

At the ARIA Music Awards of 2002, the song was nominated for Single of the Year and Highest Selling Single, losing out on both to "Can't Get You Out of My Head" by Kylie Minogue. At the APRA Music Awards of 2002 the song won the 'Song of the Year' award. In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Amazing" was ranked number 80. Lloyd was interviewed on Double J for the 20th anniversary of the song topping Triple J "Hottest 100". He stated that the song was written as a "beautiful goodbye" to a relationship with an older, more experienced partner.

Music video
The video clip of this song was filmed around the Southern Highlands in New South Wales. It features a schoolgirl named Sarah living in the year 1976. One day while travelling to school by bus, Sarah notices a young man walking near the road. Desperately, she decides to skip school and have her own freedom including writing her name in a local toilet, rowing a boat, drawing a picture and walking around the streets in her local town. Unfortunately, Sarah's chance of freedom was cut short when her mum caught her in a library. At the end, Sarah is back in uniform the next day and waits for a bus to get to school.

Track listings

 * Australian CD single
 * 1) "Amazing" – 3:24
 * 2) "Downtown" – 4:45
 * 3) "My Way Home" (XFM live session) – 4:20
 * 4) "What a Year" (XFM live session) – 4:00


 * UK CD single
 * 1) "Amazing"
 * 2) "My Way Home" (XFM live session)
 * 3) "What a Year" (XFM live session)

Credits and personnel
Credits are adapted from the Australian CD single liner notes.

Studios
 * Recorded and mixed at the Town House (London, England)
 * Additional recording at Dubshack
 * Engineered at the Town House (London, England)

Personnel


 * Alex Lloyd – writing (as Alexander Wasiliev), acoustic guitar, electric guitars, bass, production, additional recording, programming
 * Magnus Fiennes – keyboards, string arrangement, production, additional recording, programming
 * Shawn Lee – drums
 * Ged Lynch – percussion
 * Brian Gascoigne – string conducting
 * Jeremy Wheatley – mixing
 * Niven Garland – engineering
 * The Weatherman – additional Pro Tools
 * Rick Featherstone – additional Pro Tools
 * Kevin Wilkins – art direction

Other uses
In 2004 the song was licensed for use in advertisements for the Ford Territory 4-wheel drive (SUV) vehicle. It has been used in two other TV advertisements, reportedly earning Lloyd payments of "hundreds of thousands of dollars". In 2008, truck driver Mark O'Keefe sued Lloyd, claiming that the two of them wrote the song together on "a series of beer coasters" at a hotel in 1991 when Lloyd was 16, and that accordingly Lloyd owed him royalties. Lloyd denied ever meeting O'Keefe.