When Kirsty MacColl died way too
young in December 2000, Johnny Marr rightly sang her praises. MacColl’s talent
was one of the few things Marr and Morrissey still agreed on.
Marr: “Kirsty believed in genuine inspiration
and was able to write quickly because she was so talented, but she never just
knocked something off. She had real craft as well. She wasn’t a good musician
technically. She wasn’t interested in mastering an instrument, but she was
great at putting chords together. Her expertise was melody, lyrics and harmony.
She’s one of England’s greatest ever pop lyricists, she believed her songs
should be almost like mini-novels, and she was a fucking Jedi at harmony… She
had her own system that was all her own ...She was no nonsense, but at the same
time she believed in magic. A true artist, in a class of one, and
irreplaceable.”
In a few
weeks every radio station will start playing ‘Fairy Tale Of New York’ like they do every Christmas. The track wasn’t written
with Kirsty in mind. Had she not left the band the track would have been sung
by Cáit O'Riordan but MacColl made it her own and
will always be associated with it.
When
MacColl released her album ‘Kite’ all the critics gave it rave reviews and it’s
now seen as her masterpiece and a document of when she was at the peak of her
powers. There are so many great tracks but maybe the top 3 for me are '15
Minutes', 'What Do Pretty Girls Do', and 'Don’t Come The Cowboy With Me'. One of the
singles off the album is ‘Free World’ and on the b-side of that single is a
cover of The Smiths song ‘You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby’ which features
Johnny Marr on guitar.
According
The Smith’s drummer Mike Joyce, the title of the song came about because
Morrissey requested for a driver to pick him up and the head of Rough Trade
records had replied “You just haven’t earned it.” In 1987 The song was
scheduled to be the follow up single to ‘Ask’ but as Morrissey felt the
production could have been better and the rest of the band preferred the song
‘Shoplifters Of The World’ it never happened.
Despite
the fact Kirsty MacColl’s version of the
Morrissey/Marr classic ‘You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby’ featured on the
soundtrack to John Hughes Rom Com ‘She’s Having A Baby’ in 1988 and as then
later as a bonus track on the CD reissues of ‘Kite’ I still feel enough people
don’t know about it. Have a listen HERE and see if you agree.
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