See That Girl

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"See That Girl"
Kirsty MacColl See That Girl 1981 single cover.jpg
Single by Kirsty MacColl
from the album Desperate Character
B-side "Over You"
Released18 September 1981
Length3:01
Label Polydor
Songwriter(s) Kirsty MacColl
Producer(s) Barry "Bazza" Farmer
Kirsty MacColl singles chronology
"There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis"
(1981)		"See That Girl"
(1981)		"You Still Believe in Me"
(1981)

"See That Girl" is a song by English singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl, released on 18 September 1981 by Polydor as the second single from her debut studio album, Desperate Character . [1] It was written by MacColl and produced by Barry "Bazza" Farmer.

Contents

As the follow-up to MacColl's "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis", which reached number 14 in the UK Singles Chart in July 1981, "See That Girl" failed to make an appearance in the UK charts. It did, however, gain radio airplay and reached number 45 on Record Business magazine's Airplay Guide Top 100 chart in October 1981. [2]

On 20 October 1981, MacColl performed the song on the ITV children's series Get It Together . [3]

Critical reception

Upon its release as a single, Sunie of Record Mirror considered "See That Girl" to be "a marked improvement on the hideous novelty" of "There's a Guy Down the Chip Shop Swears He Elvis" and "more in the vein" of MacColl's 1979 single "They Don't Know". She added, "In other words, this is one of Kirsty's rather precious Sixties-style girlie songs, very much the sort of thing Sandie Shaw used to warble." She described MacColl's vocal as "aiming towards a Marianna circa 'As Tears Go By'." [4] Peter Trollope of the Liverpool Echo described it as "another strong single which should follow 'Elvis' into the charts." [5]

Ian Birch of Smash Hits was negative in his review, stating, "The song recalls one of those rush jobs that appeared on countless B-sides during the '60s. Even Kirsty sounds bored and she wrote the song." He felt MacColl should have "stayed in the wings until something as snappy as 'Chip Shop' presented itself". [6] Paul Colbert of Melody Maker called it "a disappointing second course" to "Chip Shop" as he felt it lacked its predecessor's "verve of daft lovability". He noted it is "closer to a ballad" in comparison and, although "ably performed by Kirsty", was critical of the production as "by half-time [her] vocals have all but vanished in a wallowing sea of piano, drums and guitar which flop about and soon disperse interest". [7] Dave McCullough of Sounds called it "more pointless pap from the anonymous Ms MacColl" and added that the song "sounds like a hundred Nick Lowe cliches sewn haplesly together without forming anything of sense". He continued, "It's too bright and too thin. It's the wrong side of modern pop, the side that will soon be left behind." [8]

Track listing

7-inch single [9]

  1. "See That Girl" - 3:01
  2. "Over You" - 2:42

Charts

Chart (1981)Peak
position
UK Airplay Guide ( Record Business ) [2] 45

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References

  1. ↑ "New Singles". Record Business . 14 September 1981. p. 23. ISSN   0144-0691.
  2. 1 2 "Airplay Guide". Record Business . Vol. 4, no. 29. 5 October 1981. p. 18. ISSN   0144-0691.
  3. ↑ "1981". tvpopdiaries.co.uk. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
  4. ↑ Sunie (26 September 1981). "Singles". Record Mirror . p. 13. ISSN   0144-5804.
  5. ↑ Trollope, Peter (15 September 1981). "Singles" . Liverpool Echo . p. 2. Retrieved 5 April 2024– via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ↑ Birch, Ian (1 October 1981). "Singles". Smash Hits . p. 18. ISSN   0260-3004.
  7. ↑ Colbert, Paul (19 September 1981). "Singles". Melody Maker . p. 14. ISSN   0025-9012.
  8. ↑ McCullough, Dave (19 September 1981). "Singles". Sounds . p. 26. ISSN   0144-5774.
  9. ↑ See That Girl (UK 7-inch single label). Kirsty MacColl. Polydor Records. 1981. POSP 326.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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