I have always liked this song but it felt very apropos earlier this week. We were visiting the midwest and we were driving to the airport to head back to LA. It was very early and cold and the song came on the radio and I felt the song like no other time. I was already anxious to get back to LA and the song just underscored how I longed for warmth.
Great guitar intro to this song, it sounds like a plucking instead of playing. The rest of the instrumental of this song kind of fades to the background and the vocals are really the focal point. I think the contrasts between the chorale sound and the individual singers really adds to the emotion of the song.
The flute solo in the song helps bring the cold that is being sang about into the song. A heartier guitar or fuller instrumental sound wouldn’t convey how cold the narrator of the song feels both in temperature and in his heart.