"An Olive Grove Facing the Sea" is a song from Snow Patrol's second album When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up. A re-recorded version featuring only vocalist Gary Lightbody's singing and guitar was released on the bands' 2009 compilation album Up to Now, and was later released digitally as the second single from the album. Background The lyrics to the song were written by vocalist Gary Lightbody, and the music composed by the whole band, then consisting of Lightbody, Mark McClelland and Jonny Quinn. The original album version was recorded by Snow Patrol during the sessions for their second album, When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up. Recording took place at two different studios: The Stables (in Lincolnshire, England) and Substation (in Rosyth, Scotland). The final mix was done at Substation. The song was produced by Michael Brennan Jr. and Snow Patrol. The song has been described as possibly being "a dream", "a hymn to an imagined presence" and also a "mermaid fantasy", because of its lyrics: "She was an angel / I saw her swimming there". It has also been compared to the Big Star song "Thirteen" and called its "Stalkers Handbook" version. The start of the song features acoustic guitar, whose strings are "brushed gently" and the cymbals played for "reverberation and resonance", instead of being "struck for impact", according to Stylus writer Nick Southall. He has noted that the drumming is "slow and deliberate", and repeated, because "dreams repeat". As the song reaches the chorus, the acoustic guitar stops and an electric one takes over. The end of the song features a trumpet solo as cadenza. Lightbody's vocal on the song invited comparisons to Nick Drake. Gary Lightbody re-recorded the original version in July 2009 at The Garage in Kent, with Jacknife Lee acting as producer. The new recording was called the "2009 Version" and featured Lightbody singing over an electric guitar. Lightbody called his new version "shamefully self indulgent". Music video Snow Patrol filmed a music video for the song on 24 May 2001. It was created with mneTV as a part of the @ìre series, which was broadcast on BBC Two and STV. mneTV's Cailean Collier wrote that since the song had been described as a dream, the video interprets this by "blurring the borders between fantasy and reality". Release and reception Snow Patrol's recording was released on their