Small Hours

Small Hours closes One World. It was recorded outdoors at Chris Blackwell's Berkshire farm with Island's mobile unit, with the sound sent out to a speaker half a mile away across the water and recorded from there. Geese can be heard in the background, and Martyn said a train passes about two and a half minutes in. A Rhythm Doctor drum machine, Steve Winwood's Moog and Echoplex-treated guitar carry a short lyric built around the refrain keep on loving till your love is strong.

Blackwell considers it one of the best tracks he ever worked on, and Ralph McTell called it a hymn to the night. Uncut called it arguably Martyn's finest song when the album was reissued, and Simon Reynolds heard in it an anticipation of the Durutti Column. Martyn reworked it as Anna for the 1978 Australian film In Search of Anna.