About
Family Coach was written by Stephen Duffy and originally recorded by his band the Lilac Time for their 1999 album Looking for a Day in the Night. Robbie Williams recorded his version during the sessions for Intensive Care, and it was released in 2005 as a B-side to “Advertising Space.”
Williams’s rendition stays close to Duffy’s original arrangement but subtly reinterprets it through his own vocal phrasing and production. A few lyrical details were updated: Duffy’s “Banville Road” became “Greenbank Road,” and “Christmas 1968” was changed to “Christmas 1981,” the year it famously snowed across much of the UK, including Williams’s hometown of Stoke-on-Trent. The imagery of a family journey through snow connects the song’s gentle nostalgia with Williams’s own childhood memories.
Musically, Family Coach sits between English folk and soft country, carried by brushed percussion and warm acoustic textures. Its lyrics trace the passage of time within a family, using the metaphor of a coach ride to represent shared experience and inevitable loss. Williams’s vocal delivery adds a note of tenderness to the song’s quiet reflection on belonging and change.
Though a cover, Family Coach fits naturally within the mood of Intensive Care, whose introspective tone marked a shift toward more personal and literate storytelling in Williams’s catalogue.
Lyrics
It's leaving Greenbank Road
Christmas 1981
Christmas, when it snowed
Whilst on board the family coach
They were circlin' the moon
No one had been there before
They were landing there in June
Hey, hey, family coach
My family coach
You've got to make the most
The most of your family coach
Meanwhile on the family coach
The postilion quietly spoke
He said, You can not leave your family coach
This is not a joke
We must work out our differences
Though, none of us may change
We all take different routes through life
But your coach will stay the same
Hey, hey, family coach
My family coach
You've got to make the most
The most of your family coach
Hey, hey, family coach
My family coach
You've got to make the most
The most of your family coach
Back on board Apollo 8
They had gone behind
And the human family held its breath
And wondered what they'd find
Our family coach can stay on earth
Or be a rocket ship
But wherever, wherever you may go
Your kin will share the trip
Hey, hey, family coach
My family coach
You've got to make the most
The most of your family coach
Now it might well appear to you
That they were simpler days
And the family coach is smaller now
Some have passed away
But there's never been a golden age
Nostalgia's for the lame
The best is yet to come, my dear
It's that kind of game
Hey, hey, family coach
My family coach
You've got to make the most
The most of your family coach
Hey, hey, family coach
My family coach
You've got to make the most
The most of your family coach
Credits
-
Vocalist
Robbie Williams -
Songwriter
Stephen Duffy -
Original Artist
The Lilac Time