"Can't Stop Killing You" | ||||
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Single by Kirsty MacColl | ||||
from the album Titanic Days | ||||
B-side | "Touch Me" "Fabulous Garden" | |||
Released | 1993 | |||
Length | 4:12 | |||
Label | Liberation Records (Australia) I.R.S. Records (US) | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
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Kirsty MacColl singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Can't Stop Killing You" on YouTube |
"Can't Stop Killing You" is a song by British singer and songwriter Kirsty MacColl, which was released in 1993 as the second single from her fourth studio album Titanic Days . It was written by MacColl and Johnny Marr, and produced by Victor Van Vugt and Baboon Farm. [1] The song reached No. 20 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks and remained on the chart for seven weeks. [2]
Speaking of the song, MacColl told Dawn Eden of Videowave in 1993: "When I wrote the song, it was a very cinematic piece and the characters were like film characters to me. It wasn't a particularly autobiographical song." MacColl said of the lyrical message on abusive relationships: "People do have this terrible fear of being alone [and] that's why [they] get married and everything else, but there comes a point where you have to say 'Ok, well if this relationship's doing my head in all the time, why do you keep going back to it?'" [3]
The song's music video was directed by Tim Hunter. MacColl told Videowave: "When we came to make the video, I wanted to do it like I'd seen it in my head. We got a couple of great actors in it and I was really pleased with the performances they gave. [The video's] quite funny in a way and it's sort of frightening as well. I think it's a weird combination of scary and crazy." [3]
Upon release, Andrew Boyd of the Reading Evening Post felt the song's melody "hints at [Johnny Marr's] Electronic work." [4] Jim Farber of New York's Daily News noted the song's "bold rock riff". [5] In a review of Titanic Days, Brenda Herrmann of the Chicago Tribune commented: "MacColl's one of the few songwriters that can occasionally latch on to bits of Elvis Costello-ian wit without seeming contrived, as in her single "Can't Stop Killing You"." [6]
Diana Valois of The Morning Call wrote: "Darkly wary, at times unsettling, MacColl's lyrics ritualize the memories of a past love ("Soho Square") or bear the mental and physical stigma of abuse ("Can't Stop Killing You")." [7] Mitch Schafer of The Tampa Tribune commented: "...and you'll likely be tapping your toes and singing along to "Can't Stop Killing You," before you realize it's about a serial murderer." [8] Steve Hall of The Indianapolis Star felt the song was a "cinematic rockers about a psychopath and one of his victims". [9]
Mirabella wrote: "On "Can't Stop Killing You," she explores a realm of quiet inner terror set on top of prickly rock 'n' roll guitars." [10] Ira Robbins of Trouser Press felt the song "sounds like an Anglofied Carly Simon classic". [11] Both Billboard and Neil McKay of Sunday Life considered the song a highlight from Titanic Days. [12] [13]
Production
Chart (1993) | Peak position |
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Australian ARIA Singles Chart [14] | 131 |
US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks [2] | 20 |
"Fairytale of New York" is a song written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan and recorded by their London-based band the Pogues, featuring English singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl on vocals. The song is an Irish folk-style ballad and was written as a duet, with the Pogues' singer MacGowan taking the role of the male character and MacColl playing the female character. It was originally released as a single on 23 November 1987 and later featured on the Pogues' 1988 album If I Should Fall from Grace with God.
Kite is the breakthrough second album by Kirsty MacColl, released in 1989. Produced by her then-husband Steve Lillywhite, it was her first album for Virgin Records. The album included MacColl's hit cover of the Kinks' "Days", as well as two tracks written with Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. On 6 October 1989, it was certified silver by the BPI.
Victor Van Vugt is a music producer, mixer and engineer. An Australian based in Berlin, he has had a long association with the careers of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Beth Orton.
Galore is a compilation album released by Kirsty MacColl in 1995. It features material previously released on the studio albums Desperate Character (1981), Kite (1989), Electric Landlady (1991) and Titanic Days (1993), among other tracks by MacColl, totalling eighteen songs. Some of the tracks differ from their original releases; a couple of songs, such as "Innocence", are alternate takes, while "Miss Otis Regrets" is a different edit that omits the second half, "Just One of Those Things", performed by the Pogues. On release the album peaked at No. 6, MacColl's highest ever charting album.
Electric Landlady is Kirsty MacColl's third studio album. Released in 1991, it was her second Virgin Records release and second collaboration with producer/husband Steve Lillywhite. The title is a pun on Jimi Hendrix's album Electric Ladyland.
Titanic Days is the fourth studio album by Kirsty MacColl, released in 1993. Containing eleven tracks, Titanic Days was sometimes hard to get in years after its release, but it was remastered and re-released in 2005 by ZTT with a second CD of non-album tracks and some live recordings, including a version of "Miss Otis Regrets". In 2012, another remastered re-issue of the album was released by Salvo/ZTT, which again featured a second disc of bonus tracks. This is the final album to be produced by her then-husband Steve Lillywhite, before they divorced several years after the release.
"They Don't Know" is a song composed and first recorded in 1979 by Kirsty MacColl. Though unsuccessful, the song was later recorded by Tracey Ullman in 1983. Ullman's version reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 8 in the US.
"Days" is a song by the English rock band the Kinks, written by Ray Davies. It was released as a non-album single in June 1968. It also appeared on an early version of the album The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. It now appears as a bonus track of the remastered CD. On the original Pye 7N 17573 label, the name of the song is "Day's" owing to a grammatical error.
"Don't Come the Cowboy with Me Sonny Jim!" is a song by British singer and songwriter Kirsty MacColl, which was released in 1990 as the fourth and final single from her second studio album Kite. It was written by MacColl and produced by Steve Lillywhite. The song reached No. 82 in the UK and remained in the charts for four weeks. A music video was filmed to promote the single, directed by Sarah Tuft.
Kirsty Anna MacColl was an English singer and songwriter, daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl. She recorded several pop hits in the 1980s and 1990s, including "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis" and cover versions of Billy Bragg's "A New England" and the Kinks' "Days". Her first single, "They Don't Know", had chart success a few years later when covered by Tracey Ullman. MacColl also sang on a number of recordings produced by her then-husband Steve Lillywhite, most notably "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues. Her death in 2000 led to the "Justice for Kirsty" campaign.
"Walking Down Madison" is a 1991 song by Kirsty MacColl featuring Aniff Cousins. It charted at No. 23 on the UK Singles Chart and impacted a number of Billboard charts.
"Free World" is a song by British singer and songwriter Kirsty MacColl, which was released in 1989 as the lead single from her second studio album Kite. It was written by MacColl and produced by Steve Lillywhite. "Free World" reached number 43 in the UK Singles Chart and remained in the top 100 for seven weeks.
Pete Glenister is an English guitarist, songwriter and producer, known for his work with Alison Moyet and Kirsty MacColl. He has also worked with a number of other artists including Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Bruce Foxton, Terence Trent D'Arby, Bros, E. G. Daily, Mary Coughlan, Geoffrey Williams, Five Thirty, Bryan Ferry and Raphael Gualazzi.
"Caroline" is a song by British singer and songwriter Kirsty MacColl, released in February 1995 as a single from her compilation album Galore. The song was written by MacColl, and produced by Victor Van Vugt and MacColl. "Caroline" reached number 58 in the UK Singles Chart and remained in the top 100 for two weeks.
"Angel" is a song by British singer and songwriter Kirsty MacColl, released in 1993 as the lead single from her fourth studio album Titanic Days. It was written by MacColl and produced by Steve Lillywhite. For its release as a single, "Angel" was remixed with additional production by Gregg Jackman. The song reached number 87 in the UK Singles Chart and number 26 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
"Dear John" is a song by Scottish singer-songwriter Eddi Reader, which was released in 1994 as the third and final single from her second studio album Eddi Reader. It was written by Kirsty MacColl and Mark E. Nevin, and produced by Greg Penny. "Dear John" reached No. 48 in the UK and remained in the charts for two weeks. In 1995, the song was nominated for "Best song musically and lyrically" at the Ivor Novello Awards.
"In These Shoes?" is a song by British singer and songwriter Kirsty MacColl, which was released in 2000 as the second single from her fifth studio album Tropical Brainstorm. It was written by MacColl and Pete Glenister, and produced by MacColl, Glenister and Dave Ruffy.
"Mambo de la Luna" is a song by British singer and songwriter Kirsty MacColl, which was released in 1999 as the lead single from her fifth studio album Tropical Brainstorm. It was written and produced by MacColl, Pete Glenister and Dave Ruffy.
"All I Ever Wanted" is a song by British singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl, which was released in 1991 as the third and final single from her third studio album Electric Landlady. It was written by MacColl and Marshall Crenshaw, and produced by Steve Lillywhite.
See That Girl 1979-2000 is an eight disc box set by the British singer and songwriter Kirsty MacColl, released by Universal Music Group in 2023. The set contains 161 songs, recorded between 1979 and 2000, featuring 47 previously unreleased tracks including the entirety of her 1983 unreleased second album 'Real' and features sleeve notes by Jude Rogers. It reached No. 49 on the UK Physical Albums chart and No. 97 Scottish Albums Chart.