An Olive Grove Facing The Sea was first released as the 11th track of Snow Patrol’s second album “When It’s All Over We Still Have to Clear Up” (2001). It was received positively by most critics and was re-recorded and released as a single in 2009 under Snow Patrol’s album “Up to Now”. The re-recorded single differs slightly from the original and is known as the “2009 Version”. Gary Lightbody himself stated that the second version is “shamefully self indulgent” in an interview by the Hot Press.

The Song also has its own music video which was recorded on the 24th of May 2001 and was played on BBC 2.