David Vance SubstackRead More
I was a fan from the start.
I’m talking about Kirsty MacColl, the English singer songwriter who would have turned 65 on the 10th of this month had she lived to reach that age. She never did. She was killed in a freak water ski accident on Dec 18th 2000. It ruined my Christmas as she was my absolute favourite female singer with the voice of an angel. This is my little tribute to her.
I first became aware of Kirsty in 1979 when she released the impeccable “They don’t know” on the Stiff label. I still have my copy of it from all those years ago. She looks so cute on the cover of that record, so yes, I did fancy her too! Ironically it didn’t do that well for Kirsty but when comedian Tracey Ullman did a cover in 1983, it became a big hit. Bette Midler even recorded it!
It was in 1981 that Kirsty hit UK commercial gold with a novelty tune called “There’s a guy works down the chip shop swears he’s Elvis”! It was a witty lyric with a catchy melody and she then released her first album “Desperate Character” – which I also possess. She was clearly a very clever songwriter and did the most soaring vocals. She wrote funny feisty emotional songs.
Kirsty was to achieve a form of musical immortality in 1987 when she did the co-vocals on the Pogues “Fairy Tale of New York City”. The accompanying video has also become world famous and her fiery responses to Shane Magowan’s maudlin lyrics are still wonderful. I got married in that year at that time and that has become “our song” but time was to add a bitter twist. We’ll get to that shortly.
Two years later, in 1989, Kirsty released her second album called “Kite” and it contained her biggest ever hit which was a copy of the Kink’s song “Days”. I love that cover of the Ray Davies classic but it chokes me up when she sings…
“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”
The 1990’s saw Kirsty release three more original albums “Electric Landlady” “Titanic Days” and “What do Pretty Girls do?” – the middle album. “Titanic Days” is an oblique reference to the then disintegration of her marriage to produce Steve Lilywhite. There is a song on it called “Soho Square”…listen.
In 2000, Kirsty started going to Cuba and picked up on the salsa vibe and released a new album called “Tropical Brainstorm”. It was a more mature Kirsty but the songs were still clever, sexy and showed a new phase in her songwriting. But it all came to an end on December 18th that year when, on holidays with her children, she was hit by a water boat and died instantly. She was 41.
She has played a concert in Belfast the year before, on November 21st 1999. I was present and I got to say hello to her before it started. She was so tiny when you met her in real life but full of fun and joy and hope. I was very heavily impacted by her sudden death, as were her many fans.
Someone came up with the idea of putting a bench in Soho Square (Just off the bottom Oxford St in London) in her memory. That’s the picture at the top of this article. I made a modest donation to place it there and have gone many times to sit in this quiet little square and watch the world go by.
“One day you’ll be waiting there
No empty bench in Soho Square
And we’ll dance around like we don’t care
And I’ll be much too old to cry
And you’ll kiss me quick in case I die
Before my birthday”
Kirsty has been gone for 24 years. It’s so sad she never got to live a long life but she has left a fantastic musical heritage and just about everyone hears her sing “Fairytale” each Christmas. When I hear it, it’s her voice that stands out. It’s all the musical memories that it invokes.
So, that’s Kirsty from my point of view. I still miss her.
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