Thank You for the Days (Galore - The Best Of Kirsty Maccoll - Kirsty MacColl)

Member Name: merv

Product:	Galore - The Best Of Kirsty Maccoll - Kirsty MacColl
Date:	28/02/02 (1694 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great pop songs, Meaningful Lyrics, Wonderful Voice

Disadvantages: Sadly no more

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas for me without hearing the raucous ‘Christmas in New York’ played in all the department stores during the ritual shopping trips.

It’s a lovely romantic booze-soaked song, one of the best ever, a Christmas classic since December 1987, with Kirsty MacColl’s sweetly ironic voice balanced against the gruff romanticism of Shane McGowan. As I write this now I can visualize the video and hear the poignancy in her voice when she sings “So could anyone” to Shane’s taunt that he “could have been someone”. A simple lyric, but one which encapsulated the whole story of this great song.

So I felt genuinely sad when I first learnt of Kirsty MacColl’s death twelve months last December at the age of 41 in a speed boat accident in Mexico, where she was holidaying with her two sons.

Since her death, I’ve become quite a fan, I’ve bought several of her albums and listened to a recording of the extremely good ‘Thank You For The Days - A Tribute to Kirsty MacColl’, presented by Johnnie Walker, which was broadcast on Radio 2.

She was born in Croydon, in 1959 the daughter of the famous folk singer Ewan MacColl, who left her mother, a choreographer when Kirsty was very young.

Whilst Kirsty’s own music could sometimes be described as folk-rock, she had a tremendous range of styles and influences. Talking Heads, Happy Mondays, and the Smiths to name but a few top bands, all sought her out as a backing singer for the same reason, Kirsty was a very good singer and really enhanced their records. But as beautiful as her voice was as a backing artist, there was much more to Kirsty’s talents; she was a brilliant songwriter who managed to fuse together so many different musical styles. If you confined Carole King, the Clash, Ralph Mctell, Bob Dylan and Phil Spectre to self imposed exile on a desert island for twelve mont
hs, they would have invented Kirsty.

As the daughter of a legendary Irish folk singer, it was only to be expected that she would develop a style based on passion and conviction and she held very strong socialist views which her fans could relate to, so unlike the mega- rich stars of today.

She was a very imaginative and evocative song writer who was able to absorb new musical influences. She was also very highly rated amongst her musical peers, David Byrne from Talking Heads, rated her talents highly and once said, “She has the wit of Ray Davies and harmonic invention of the Beach Boys.” Morrissey also praised her songs and Bono of U2 once described her as "Red hair, sharp tongue - she should be Irish”, and went on to say that she was one of a line of great English songwriters that included Ray Davies, Paul Weller and Morrissey. He described her as ‘The Noelle Coward of her generation’.

In 1995 the album Galore was released and drew upon her entire career up to that time. In my opinion this is the Kirsty MacColl album to buy if you've never bought one before. Her songs are about real people's lives and show that there is a place for great pop music amongst all the musical genres.

All the tracks on the album are good, it’s a real classic, so I’ve identified a few of my favourites to show what a wonderful singer song-writer Kirsty was.

They Don’t Know About Us

‘No I don't listen to their wasted lines
Got my eyes wide open and I see the signs
But they don't know about us
And they've never heard of love’

Kirsty’s first single written at the age of 18, was released in June 1979. The song is a tongue-in-cheek tale about a young woman's love for her boyfriend against the advice of others. The layers of harmonies on this song reminds me very much of the Phil Spectre Sound. Similar to the Crystals and t
he Ronnettes, with a bit of the Beach Boys thrown in for good measure, its pure pop music and great fun, but despite being superior to the subsequent cover by comedienne Tracey Ullman, it was the latter version that was the hit.

A New England

This was actually written by top Socialist Billy Bragg, (I wish ‘New Labour’ had his principles!) and really shows what a tremendous sense of humour they shared –
‘people ask me when will I grow up to understand while the girls I knew at school are already pushing pram’.

Brilliant song which really summed up the early 80’s.

Don’t Come the Cowboy with me, Sonny Jim!

Take-off of classic country music which shows with great irony the contrast between the romantic ideal and the grim realities. Wonderful lyrics, the lines that stick in my mind are:

‘The boots just go back on,
The socks that had stayed on,
The next time they see you,
They treat you like dirt.’

There’ s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swear’s He’s Elvis

Kirsty’s first chart success was another tremendous pop song, a humorous rockabilly melody, about men who pretend to be more than they are to attract women. Another classic pop song with much more to it than meets the eye.

'There's a guy works down the chip shop swears he's Elvis
Just like you swore to me that you'd be true
There's a guy works down the chip shop swears he's Elvis
But he's a liar and I'm not sure about you'

I read that this song nearly brought a swift end to her career before it really started. She was still pretty inexperienced and went on a tour of Ireland, where she suffered stage fright and returned home vowing never to tour again. It took her until 1990 to regain her confidence and go back on the road.

Free World

Unlike the sixties, no-one seeme
d to do much protesting in the eighties, everybody was probably too busy making money or acquiring assets. This was a bit different, took me back to Bob Dylan having ago at the republicans - an anti–Thatcherite anthem, sneering at the 80’s values with lovely harmonic vocals bouncing around:

‘But I will see you baby when the clans rise again
Women and men united by the struggle
Going down
With a pocketful of plastic
Like a dollar on elastic
In this free world
I wouldn't tell you if I didn't care’

Days

‘Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me’

Lovely rendition of the Ray Davies’ classic, how true those words!

Walking Down Madison

"From the sharks in the penthouse to the rats in the basement; it's not that far; to the bag lady frozen asleep on the church steps; it's not that far; would you like to see some more? I can show you if you'd like to."

Co-written with Johnny Marr, a hip-hop beat complete with rap telling of the paranoia and euphoria that confronts an outsider in New York City. There’s been some great songs written about New York – good idea for a compilation (e.g Bob Dylan, Liza Minelli, Simon and Garfunkel)

Perfect Day

Her haunting interpretation of Lou Reed’s Perfect Day is my favourite version of a much covered song. The two totally capture the futility and yearning only hinted at in the other versions, especially on the ominous and touching chorus "You're going to reap just what you sow" on the closing fadeout.


Well worth the price of the album for those tracks alone, but believe me the remaining songs are just as good – definitely one for your collection.

Kirsty MacColl was one the most significant figures in popular music of her era. More than simply a singer/songwriter, she was truly refreshing and unique wi
th a healthy cynicism, wonderful sense of humour and irony, without any self importance, but with the ability to interpret a wide range of musical styles.

On the record sleeve (written before her death) Billy Bragg labels her as ‘unpretentious, inimitable, writes like a playwright, sings like an angel’ – that just about sums her up.

TRACK LISTING FOR GALORE
1. They Don't Know
2. A New England
3. There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis
4. He's On The Beach
5. Fairytale Of New York (with The Pogues)
6. Miss Otis Regrets (with The Pogues)
7. Free World
8. Innocence
9. You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby
10. Days
11. Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim!
12. Walking Down Madison
13. My Affair
14. Angel
15. Titanic Days
16. Can't Stop Killing You
17. Caroline
18. Perfect Day

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