‘500 Miles’ + 5 Years = Unforeseen Hit

One of the hottest singles in the country was given up for dead when it first came out--five years ago.

We’re talking about the Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles),” which is enjoying a second life thanks to its placement in the film “Benny & Joon.”

The Scottish duo’s tune was originally released on the Proclaimers’ largely ignored 1988 album “Sunshine on Leith,” which sold a minuscule 18,000 copies in the United States. The somewhat nerdy, bespectacled twins Charlie and Craig Reid, who sing in sometimes impenetrable Edinburgh burr, seemed destined for obscurity.

“It was a dormant issue,” says EMI Records Group President Daniel Glass of the act’s U.S. prospects.

But then came “Benny & Joon.”

The film’s co-star, Mary Stuart Masterson, helped get the song--a folky number with a martial beat about romantic devotion and determination--prominently placed in the love story.

“A couple days after the film was released, I got phone calls that people were freaking out,” says Craig Reid, who hasn’t seen the movie yet.

The Reids weren’t the only ones getting phone calls. Soon radio stations in Atlanta, then New York and eventually all over the country got calls from people who wanted to hear the song. Record stores were also besieged--and had to make their own calls to distributors to get copies of the single and album on the shelves.

Now industry observers are predicting that the single will break into the Top 10. Besides being on the group’s original album (which is about to enter the national Top 100), “I’m Gonna Be” has also propelled the “Benny & Joon” soundtrack album into the Top 50.

A second single, “I’m on My Way,” also from the 1988 album, is planned for release in the fall, and the Reids--who have remained active but released only one single in the intervening years--are planning to come to the United States for a few promotional showcases and TV appearances.