Being the daughter of legendary folk singer Ewan MacColl, Kirsty was always going to have music play a part in her life somehow. When she was 19 she sang backing vocals for a punk band called Drug Addix under the stage name of Mandy Doubt on an EP released by Chiswick Records. While their sound didn't impress record labels, her vocals did and she was soon given a solo deal by Stiff Records.
Kirsty was unlucky that a distributors strike meant that her first single, 'They Don't Know', failed to chart after having had strong airplay. After that she fell out with Stiff and moved to Polydor where she had a hit single with 'There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis' from her album 'Desperate Character'.
When Polydor didn't like the sound of her proposed second album they dropped her and so she returned to Stiff Records where the signs that showed how her career would pan out really began to show. Kirsty would always receive critical acclaim but her commercial success would continue to be hit and miss throughout the rest of her career.
Kirsty's last album, 'Titanic Days', was released in 2000 and included the song 'In These Shoes' which was used as the theme tune to Catherine Tate's BBC comedy series, in the British movie 'Kinky Boots', was covered by Bette Midler and was used in the HBO tv series 'Sex In The City'.
Kirsty was tragically killed in an accident in Mexico in December 2000 when she was hit by a speedboat while diving in Cozumel in an area where watercraft were banned. She was only 41.
'There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis' is such a catchy song that it's easy to see why I've been humming it all week since it popped up on my mp3 player. Also the lyrics are well constructed, Kirsty was a fantastic songwriter, and tell a tale with straight to the point narrative while still making it seem a little tongue in cheek.
If you've not listened to Kirsty's stuff before - or not beyond the realm of 'Fairytale Of New York' which is yet another wonderful song - then I hope you will as she was amazing.
Hope you enjoy this week's song!
Kirsty MacColl - There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis
Oh darling why'd you talk so fast
Another evening just flew past tonight
And now the daybreak's coming in
And I can't win and it ain't right
You tell me all you've done and seen
And all the places you have been without me
Well I don't really want to know
But I'll stay quiet and then I'll go
And you won't have no cause to think about me
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
Oh darling you're so popular
You were the best thing new in Hicksville ...
With your mohair suits and foreign shoes
News is you changed your Pick-up for a Seville
And now I'm lying here alone
'Cause you're out there on the phone
To some star in New York
I can hear you laughing now and
I can't help feeling that somehow
You don't mean anything you say at all
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
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 said he's a liar and I'm not sure about you
I said he's a liar and I'm not sure about you
He's a liar and I'm not sure about you
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