"So Far Gone" is the second single from English singer-songwriter James Blunt

James Blunt

James Hillier Blount , better known by his stage name James Blunt, is an English singer-songwriter and musician, and former army officer, whose debut album, Back to Bedlam and single releases, including "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover", brought him to fame in 2005...

's third studio album, Some Kind of Trouble

Some Kind of Trouble

Some Kind of Trouble is the third studio album from British singer-songwriter James Blunt. The album was released on 8 November 2010. On December 6, 2011, a deluxe version of the album will be released, entitled Some Kind Of Trouble: Revisted....

. The single was released as a digital download

Music download

A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

 single release exclusively in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 on January 3, 2011. A live version of the song, recorded at Metropolis Studios, was included on the OpenDisc feature of Some Kind of Trouble

Some Kind of Trouble

Some Kind of Trouble is the third studio album from British singer-songwriter James Blunt. The album was released on 8 November 2010. On December 6, 2011, a deluxe version of the album will be released, entitled Some Kind Of Trouble: Revisted....

. Blunt performed the song live for the first time on Comedy Rocks with Jason Manford on January 28, 2011. Australian radio stations have picked up the song and are beginning to give it airplay as of March 2011.

Music video

The video, directed by Marc Klasfeld

Marc Klasfeld

Marc Klasfeld is an American music video director. He has directed over two hundred music videos for artists such as Katy Perry, Jay-Z, Kid Rock, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nelly, Foo Fighters, Jewel, Sum 41, Avril Lavigne and many others with multiple MTV award wins and nominations...

, for the track premiered on Blunt's official YouTube account on December 13, 2010.

Reception

Matthew Horton from BBC Music

BBC Music

BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....

 said that: "Best Laid Plans teems with cliché and some David Gilmour

David Gilmour

David Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...

-lite guitar noodles that also rear up on So Far Gone." March Hirsh from Boston Globe said: "A few songs — midtempo anthem “So Far Gone,’’ quavery failed-romance ballad “Best Laid Plans’’ — fill up the earphones well enough but don’t bother pushing an inch deeper to engage the head."

Chart performance

The single became the first UK-released single by Blunt that did not enter the 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 ...

 (top 100). In Belgium it has entered the charts in both the Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 and Wallonia regions, and is slowly making its way up the charts. On February 5, the song entered the Tipparade (Bubbling Under Chart) of the Dutch Top 40

Dutch Top 40

The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...

, and has so far climbed to number 4. In Switzerland the song has not yet been released as a single, but is making its way up on the Airplay Top 30 Chart with already making Top 10 on that chart, so far peaking at number 7.

Charts

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Chart (2011)	Peak position
Belgian (Wallonia) Airplay Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts...	15
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...	25
Swiss Airplay Top 30 Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...	6