"Shining Light" is a song by Ash, which was released as the first single from their album Free All Angels. It was released on 29 January 2001. It was released as a single CD (released on 2CD formats) and as a 7-inch vinyl (which came with a picture sleeve). It was also Ash's first single to be released as an enhanced CD. "Shining Light" reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart. The song had been covered by fellow Downpatrick songwriter Triona in 2015 which featured on a Power NI advert.

This article contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. (January 2018)

Quick Facts Single by Ash, from the album Free All Angels ...

"Shining Light"
Single by Ash
from the album Free All Angels
B-side	"Warmer than Fire" "Gabriel" "Feel No Pain" "Jesus Says" (remix)
Released	29 January 2001 (2001-01-29)
Genre	Power pop[1] dream pop[2]
Length	5:09 (album version) 4:07 (radio edit)
Label	Infectious Home Grown
Songwriter(s)	Tim Wheeler
Producer(s)	Owen Morris
Ash singles chronology
"Numbskull" (1999) "Shining Light" (2001) "Burn Baby Burn" (2001)
Alternative cover
CD 2 cover

Close

"Shining Light" was written about Tim Wheeler's now ex-girlfriend Audrey. Wheeler was driving home in his car when the line and tune "Yeah you are a shining light" came into his head. He rushed home and wrote it straight away on an acoustic guitar. The first time the band heard it, they say that they 'knew it was a hit'.

"Shining Light" was first played at a London Astoria gig in 2000, and is considered to be one of the band's greatest achievements, musically and lyrically. Ash once said of the song:

• Tim: "I think Shining Light's a breath of fresh air"
• Rick: "It's a very melodic song, it sticks in your head, so we thought it'd have a pretty good chance of getting in the Top 10. It was good being back there 'cos it's been a long time, over two years since we had a single out".
• Charlotte: "It was the first song we recorded and we knew it would be the first single".

The song was extremely critically acclaimed and won, among others:

• Ivor Novello Awards 2001 - Best Contemporary Song^[3]
• Irish Music Awards 2002 - Best Single

"Shining Light" can also be found on Ash's greatest hits compilation, Intergalactic Sonic 7″s as well as on the Tokyo Blitz DVD.

The song was re-recorded by Canadian artist Emm Gryner on her 2005 album Songs of Love and Death. In addition, this was the song played on the last episode of Roswell as the group in the series drives away forever - signifying the death of the series. It has also been covered by Coldplay and Noel Gallagher claims it to be one of his favourite songs.

CD1

1. "Shining Light (Radio edit)" (Wheeler)
2. "Warmer Than Fire" (Ludwin)
3. "Gabriel" (Hamilton)

CD2

1. "Shining Light (Album version)" (Wheeler)
2. "Feel No Pain" (Wheeler)
3. "Jesus Says (Hedrock Valley Beats Lightyear Remix)" (Hamilton/Wheeler)
4. "Shining Light (Video)"

7-inch

1. "Shining Light (Album version)" (Wheeler)
2. "Warmer than Fire" (Ludwin)

Promo CD

1. "Shining Light (Radio edit)" (Wheeler)

German Version (Infectious Records / edel Records gmbH | 0124685MSH)

1. "Shining Light (Radio edit)" (Wheeler)
2. "Warmer Than Fire" (Ludwin)
3. "Shining Light (Album version)" (Wheeler)
4. "Gabriel" (Hamilton)
5. "Shining Light" (Video)

"Shining Light" was the closing song in the last episode of the American science fiction television series Roswell.

"Shining Light" also appears as the background music for the special film on the racehorse Fantastic Light, which appeared on the 2005 Darley Stud Stud Book.

"Shining Light" features as a background track in Season 2 Episode 9 of the Channel 4 TV Series, "Teachers"

The version recorded by Annie Lennox was used as Elaine Hammond's (Sigourney Weaver) theme song in the US mini-series Political Animals.

Annie Lennox's cover of "Shining Light" was released as the first single from The Annie Lennox Collection. It was one of her most 'pop' recordings for some time. The video, which features Lennox singing with an all-woman band (all played by Lennox) in a brightly lit multi-coloured studio, was premiered on MSN Music on 30 January 2009.^[12] The cover attracted praise, with Tim Wheeler from Ash saying, "It's cool – I'm really into it. It makes me proud that someone of her stature and talent is doing something different with our song," and Popjustice making it its Song of the Day on 8 January 2009, saying "…after about 90 seconds it sounds like the greatest noise ever invented by a human". Lennox performed the song on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 6 March 2009 and also on The Paul O'Grady Show (9 March), The One Show (10 March), This Morning (11 March) and was also part of Comic Relief on 13 March 2009.^[13] The single was only available by download via Amazon or iTunes. The single became Lennox's first UK top 40 hit as a solo artist since 1995, reaching number 39. (She had reached the top 40 as a member of Eurythmics on three occasions in the interim.) It is also Lennox's final UK top 40 hit to date.