Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody has revealed that he didn't know that Leona Lewis was planning to cover the band's song 'Run' until he saw her singing it on TV. He also said that the cover may have been the reason why they rearranged their own version of it.
He told The Daily Star: "Someone told me to turn over the TV to the 'X Factor' when it was on. It was very odd. She's got a beautiful voice, and she carries herself with much more dignity than almost any of those type of pop stars who I can think of, so more power to her. It was so successful, which is a great testament to the song itself".
Explaining that it's not unusual to not know about an upcoming cover of one of your songs, Lightbody continued: "Anybody can cover any song without anybody's permission. It's open season on people covering that song, though they can't put it on an advert [or similar] without asking. We're still playing 'Run', but in a different way. Maybe Leona's version was the catalyst for us changing it but we've been playing it for such a long time. It came out in 2003 but I wrote it in 2000".
He added that Lewis' cover isn't bringing him in as much money as people think: "She did more with one of our songs than we ever did. She had a number one single. In a strange, vicarious way we had a number one. But we didn't really. And I won't be retiring from Leona's sales".
