oh kirsty

When I was a sophomore in high school, I was a Smiths FANATIC. I ate, slept and breathed Morrissey / Marr / Joyce / Rourke. So, after they broke up I kept up with all of their projects. In 1989, Kirsty MacColl, who did backups on a few Smiths tunes and who herself covered "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby" on the She's Having a Baby Soundtrack put out her solo effort, Kite. Smiths' guitarist Johnny Marr played on this album, so I picked it up. She always much more of a following and notoriety in the UK and was virtually unknown in the US. She has quite a musical history.

This album was a nice surprise. A mix of folky rock, jangly Smiths guitar stylings, a little country, a little pop and the now trademark layered vocal arrangements, this album really delivered. I loved it. I wore out the cassette in high school and it has long since disappeared. So, a few years ago I looked to buy it on CD. It was out of print - and fairly expensive to buy new. We couldn't find it to download anywhere. I forgot about it until a couple months ago. I just HAD to hear it......

I was pleased to see that it was re-issued a couple years ago. So, I put in an order for it and Amazon said it would take at least a month to get, since it was a UK import. So, I canceled and ordered from a used seller - I waited two weeks and then got an email saying that they had miscounted their stock and didn't have it. So, I let it go again.......It went back up on my wish list and kept haunting me. I wanted to hear it so badly! So, a couple weeks again I tried with a used seller again......and then......

Today.....it appears in my mailbox. It was like opening a box of candy. I ran to my computer, ripped it onto my iTunes - so I could put it on my new iPod (birthday gift from Graham!). I am sitting here alone at home with the volume cranked, singing my head off with Kirsty, remembering back 15+ years ago when this album was worn out in my tape deck.......it has been remastered, has a great insert and sounds better than EVER! Oh, thank the heavens......it is bliss.

Kirsty was killed in an accident in 2000 - I still remember pausing for a moment when I saw the marquee above the big indie record store in St Louis acknowledging her passing.......I am glad to have her back on my CD player.

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Here are the lyrics to her song "Fifteen Minutes" - oh how you could sing that about some of the young "divas" poisoning our media today......

Seven times in seven days
I've sat and wished my life away
I know the greyness comes and goes
But the sun don't shine
And the snow don't snow
There's Suzy-Ann with her tits and curls
Where mediocrity excels
For those vicious boys and their boring girls
You know it makes me sick but it's a bozo's world
Then there's always the cash
Selling yourself for some trash
Smiling at people that you cannot stand
You're in demand
Your fifteen minutes start now
City banker looks are in
The heartless heart, the chinless chin
And you'd spill your beans for just a pint of gin
How you got so holy
And became so thin
In Sunday papers every week
The silly words you love to speak
The tacky photos and the phoney smiles
Well it's a bozo's world
And you're a bozo's child
Then there's always the cash
Selling yourself for some trash
Smiling at people that you cannot stand
You're in demand
Your fifteen minutes start now
Then there's always the fame!
Autographs now and again
People who saw you on Blankety Blank
Or in the bank
Your fifteen minutes start now.