Kirsty MacColl – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Stiff Records Week – He Said, She Said

I want to thank Dave from A Sound Day for contributing this post for this series. Dave was the first one to really open my eyes to this very different record label and the pop culture importance of it…as well as music.

Thanks so much, Max, for inviting me to take part in this special event and for having the idea in the first place.

Stiff Records really were something special back in the day. A little indie label with memorable taglines (“if it ain’t Stiff, it ain’t worth a ****”) that could be seen on buttons and t-shirts in all the cool, low-rent record shops in the ’80s, and a great but variable roster of talented artists that included (at times) Ian Dury & the Blockheads, Ian Gomm, Dave Stewart, Madness, Nick Lowe, the Damned, Tracey Ullman and so many more. It truly was a special part of the British music scene in the late-’70s and ’80s and the whole scene there was unusual. We have indie record labels over here too, but few ever send out a hit record or make much real impact. Over there, though… boy! Big name acts like New Order and the Smiths were on little indie labels and selling millions. It helped keep the creativity going in my opinion, as those little labels tended to offer a lot more freedom to their artists than some of the big, multi-national ones did or do to this day.

Anyway, I’m going to pull a wee bit of a trick on Max here and squeeze in two songs in the one post. You’ll see why. It’s kind of a “he said, she said” affair. I had a lot of fine songs that I thought about choosing, but I opted for one of my favorites of the ’80s. Or two of my favorites of the ’80s : “A New England”. By Billy Bragg, but also, and more relevantly for our purposes here, Kirsty MacColl.

The song is a song of a couple breaking up, wishing the other would just care a little more. Billy wrote it and performed it first, in 1979 on his debut album, Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs Spy (a great title I might add) . He said he was inspired by seeing two satellites in the night sky once when walking home from a pub… which led to one of my favorite lines in pop – “I saw two shooting stars last night, I wished on them, but they were only satellites! It’s wrong to wish on space hardware, I wish, I wish you’d care.” Interestingly, he admits the first two lines of the song (“I was 21 years when I wrote this song, I’m 22 now but won’t be for long”) were taken directly from a Simon & Garfunkel song. He’s a fan of theirs as it turns out and he liked giving them a musical tip of the cap. Bragg did the song in a very sparse, stark manner and as you might guess, it was only him and his guitar on the record. That’s all.

Fast forward about four years and there’s Kirsty MacColl. She’d had the biggest hit record that wasn’t a hit with her debut single, “They Don’t Know”. The BBC loved it, and the public did too and it hit #2 on British charts based on airplay. But Stiff didn’t have good distribution AND there was a strike of some sort, so bottom line was, the single didn’t arrive in stores nor on the singles chart. Probably little surprise she moved on to Virgin Records instead by the time of her first album, which was in 1981.

In 1983-84, her friend, comedienne Tracey Ullman put out her debut album and her take on “They Don’t Know” (on which Kirsty sings the high-pitched “bab-yeee”) which became a hit over here. MacColl was seemingly biding her time between albums, doing some backing vocals for the Smiths and Simple Minds and helping her then- husband, Steve Lillywhite, do things in the studio including mixing a couple of songs on U2’s The Joshua Tree a little later on.

She somehow got back together with Stiff and decided to put out a couple of standalone singles… one of which was “A New England.”

She loved the song and said “I always thought it would be great with loads of harmonies.” She noted she liked Bragg’s version but “Billy does it … like a busker doing a really good Beatles song.” She also felt the song, 2:14” in Billy’s hands, was a wee bit short… so Bragg agreed to write more to it for her! That included a new verse at the end with the fine snipe “once upon a time at home, I sat beside the telephone waiting for someone to pull me through, when at last it didn’t ring, I knew it wasn’t you”.

Unfortunately, as a single, no one seemed to note who performed on the song, but clearly it was much fleshed out from Bragg’s original. Given her connections and husband Lillywhite’s (who produced it), we might imagine there could be some real sta r power behind her on it.

The song took off and made it to #7 over there and #8 in Ireland… by far her best showing not counting her counter-culture favorite Christmas song “A Fairytale Of New York” which she did with the Pogues. Over here, it didn’t break the charts but did make the year-end best-ofs on cool stations like CFNY Toronto and KROQ in L.A. Bragg was happy too, saying “I never thought Kirsty MacColl would put it in the top 10.”

MacColl would put out a couple of albums later on and have some more minor success but mostly from then on won her contemporaries over more than the public. Bono says of her she is “one of a long line of great English songwriters that includes Ray Davies, Paul Weller and Morrissey.” And speaking of the Smiths front man, he said Kirsty “has great songs and a crackin’ bust!” Who knew Morrissey noticed things like that? Not me!

Sadly, there was no happy ending to the Kirsty story. She was killed in Mexico in 2000 while snorkeling with her kids, run over by a speeding boat. It sounds like black humor but was true and she apparently died pushing one of her children out of harm’s way. It’s quite a scandal, as the boat was owned by a Mexican millionaire many think was responsible, but he deflected blame to one of his lackeys. There are several good, but sad, documentaries about it if you care to check that out, or check out the article below.

I can’t really decide if I like Billy’s “A New England” or Kirsty’s better. I love them both. And really love that there was so much good music coming out of Britain in the ’80s, often on tiny labels like Stiff.

Thanks again, Max… and Stiff!

https://www.alixkirsta.com/articles/kirstymaccoll/index.htm

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Stiff Records Week – Kirsty MacColl – They Don’t Know

I want to thank Randy from mostlymusiccovers for contributing this post!

When Max asked for a contribution to his Stiff Records week both his and mine default thought was to go with Nick Lowe, one of my most treasured artists. Nick was a big part of the success of that label as short-lived as it was. Stiff Records signed the 18-year-old Kirsty MacColl in 1979. Kirsty did not work with Lowe, and unfortunately, she was not treated well while there and left after just a year. But her story is one I think you should know. I want to thank Max for this opportunity to talk a little bit about her, even as I colour outside the lines from her brief brush with Stiff Records.

To demonstrate her experience while there I will say, she wrote this great song, recorded it and then the label messed around with the mixing of it. The release was delayed in part because Dave Robinson the label President, for whatever reason took a dislike to the otherwise very well-liked Kirsty. Stiff’s distribution centre went on strike at the time her record was to be shipped out and consequently, the radio stations had only the demo and no one could buy the record. Needless to say the song did not do well. Her next song was badly bungled as well and “You Caught Me Out” was shelved by the label. It was released in 2006 on The Stiff Singles Collection.

So age 19, she would move on to some success as a solo artist with five albums and charting a few songs. Like this one she wrote and released in 1981, “There’s a Guy Works down the Chip Shop, Swears He’s Elvis”. But otherwise she was in high demand as a session/background singer. Kirsty would also team up with The Pogues. They had been with Stiff for their first two albums in 1984 and 85. Coincidentally during that time they had a hit covering one of Kristy’s father’s songs, “Dirty Old Town”.

The Pogues had a messy departure from Stiff when it collapsed, and a year later Kirsty and was brought in as a feature vocalist on their enduring hit song “Fairytale of New York”, released in 1987. Although Kirsty’s voice was later over-dubbed in spots as the BBC and Top of the Pops forced the editing out of the word’s “slut” sung by Shane MacGowan and her saying “faggot” in response, words that reflected the time that the songs storyline takes place. Since then the original unedited version that is on the record is frequently heard. It is reportedly the most-played Christmas song of the 21st century in the UK.

Sometimes you just can’t keep a good song down and “They Don’t Know” was recorded by Tracey Ullman in 1983. Ullman was a fan of Kirsty and would record some of her other songs. None would have the same success as this new version that reached #2 in the UK and #8 in the US. It went to #1 in Ireland and Norway and charted well in several other countries, including a #5 ranking in Canada.

So some good came from her short stay with Stiff Records, and I think she did ok with the royalties from the song. Kirsty was the daughter of the well-known recording artist Ewan MacColl. He wrote among many songs, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” as a love song to Peggy Seeger with whom he was busy having an affair and a child. Kirsty was raised by her mother.

Kirsty would marry and divorce but had two boys. While they and her boyfriend James Knight were on vacation in Mexico in December of 2000, at age 41 she was tragically killed. A speed boat violated warnings to avoid a clearly designated diving and swimming area. They were there with a local veteran divemaster. As they were all surfacing from a dive, Kirsty heroically saved the life of her 15-year-old son who she could see was in direct line of the oncoming boat. She pushed him out of the way, and he received a glancing blow, Kirsty was hit directly and died instantly.

The boat was piloted by a very wealthy Mexican businessman and initially, they ruled her death as accidental. Her family and friends put on enough pressure that a so-called ‘investigation’ was launched. An employee was paid to take the blame and was sentenced to prison but was able to avoid it with a small fine. Sorry to end on that heartbreak.

It’s a shame things didn’t work out with her time at Stiff. By all accounts, she was a beautiful person with a voice to match.

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Kinks – Days

The Kinks are a band that belongs up with The Beatles, Who, and Stones but sometimes gets overlooked. I’ve always been a fan of them since I had a greatest hits album at a young age that covered the early years. In 1981 I bought Give The People What They Want when it was released and I’ve been hooked ever since. I saw them in 1983 and it is still one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended. I saw them at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville in an intimate setting.

I’ve always liked this song. The lyrics are a touching goodbye to someone or a situation. It’s up in my top 10 of the Kinks songs. I’ve read a critic who said The Kinks were “the most adamantly British of the Brit Invasion bands.” I think that is a fair statement.

Days was originally going to be an album track on the 1968 concept album Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society. The reason for the change is because Their previous single “Wonderboy” failed in the charts and the record company rushed this song out as a single. It did the trick because it peaked at #12 in the UK and #11 in New Zealand.

At the time The Kinks were making these great albums but they couldn’t tour in the US because of a touring ban. It didn’t chart in America or Canada. They would not chart a song in America or Canada until 2 more years later with Lola.

After the failure of Wonderboy, Ray Davies wrote this song to say goodbye to his career. Davies: “I didn’t care anymore. So I thought, ‘Say goodbye nicely,’ and wrote ‘Days.'”

That wasn’t the only thing that was on his mind with this song though. His sister Rosie had just immigrated to Australia. Ray Davies: “She left and said, ‘Say goodbye, my loving brother,’ and I said, ‘Thank you for being my sister, so the song’s for her, really, and her generation.”

The song peaked at #12 in the UK but failed to chart in the US.

Ray Davies: “I started writing it in a hotel on tour. Strangely enough, it was the rhythm I wanted to get first, the sustained chords. The actual tune came later. And then I wrote some of it in a phone box while I was phoning somebody I shouldn’t be phoning. The song wasn’t about the person on the other end of the line. Well, not really. But I suppose it’s the ultimate kiss-off, isn’t it? ‘Thank you for the days.'”

“The song has grown in intensity over the years,” he said. “I didn’t think much about the song when I wrote it. Sometimes songs occur like that. You don’t think about it, but it’s built up quite a lot of mystique over the years. It certainly left me. It belongs to the world now.”

Kirsty MacColl did a version that peaked at #12 in the UK in 1989

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNJcd1pTaL0

For those of you in the UK you might remember it in a 2011 Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet Comercial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOk7khDGtSs

Days

Thank you for the days
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me
I’m thinking of the days
I won’t forget a single day, believe me

I bless the light
I bless the light that lights on you believe me
And though you’re gone
You’re with me every single day, believe me

Days I’ll remember all my life
Days when you can’t see wrong from right
You took my life
But then I knew that very soon you’d leave me
But it’s all right
Now I’m not frightened of this world, believe me

I wish today could be tomorrow
The night is dark
It just brings sorrow, let it wait

Thank you for the days
Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me
I’m thinking of the days
I won’t forget a single day, believe me

I bless the light
I bless the light that shines on you believe me
And though you’re gone
You’re with me every single day, believe me
Days