"I Quit" is a song by British female pop band Hepburn. The song was written by

Phil Thornalley Philip Thornalley (born 5 January 1960) is an English songwriter-producer who has worked in the music industry since 1978. He is perhaps best known for co-writing (with Scott Cutler and Anne Preven) the song " Torn" (made famous by Natalie Im ...

, who produced the track alongside Notodog, and

Colin Campsie Colin Campsie (born 1957) is a British singer and songwriter. He was a member of the 1980s pop bands the Quick and Giant Steps. Biography Campsie originally formed the soft rock/funk group Grand Hotel along with long time collaborator Ge ...

. Included on Hepburn's debut and only studio album, ''Hepburn'' (1999), the song also appears on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

to the American supernatural drama television series '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. "I Quit" was originally offered to Australian singer

Natalie Imbruglia Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( , ; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian singer and actress. In the early 1990s, she played Beth Brennan in the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours''. Three years after leaving the programme, she began a singing caree ...

, who turned down the track. Hepburn recorded the song instead and released it as their debut single on 17 May 1999 through Columbia Records. Commercially, the song reached number eight on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and also charted in France, peaking at number 80. The song was also released in the United States in October 1999 but failed to generate success.

Release and reception

Columbia Records released "I Quit" in the United Kingdom on 17 May 1999. Critically, British trade paper ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' compared the song's "angry" chorus to Alanis Morissette's music, noting the song's maturity and calling it "instantly catchy and hummable". UK chart columnist James Masterton wrote that the rhyming couplet "But you turned into another liar / And you came on like a new Messiah" was the "coolest" lyric of the 23 May 1999 chart week, when "I Quit" debuted at its peak of number eight on the

. The song remained on the UK chart for nine weeks and is Hepburn's only top-20 single. In June 1999, Hepburn promoted the song by performing it live on music programme ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

''. In the United States,

TVT Records TVT Records (Tee-Vee Tunes) was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 24-year history, the label released 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, ...

serviced "I Quit" to rock radio stations on 5 October 1999, but it did not experience success. In mid-2000, the song charted on the

French Singles Chart French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

for two nonconsecutive weeks, peaking at number 80 in May.

Track listings

UK CD1 # "I Quit" – 3:53 # "Sleeping Beauty" – 3:20 # "Butterfly" – 3:34 UK CD2 # "I Quit" – 3:53 # "Cold World" – 5:35 # "I Quit" (Dave Sears 'On Time Mix') – 7:38 UK cassette single # "I Quit" – 3:53 # "Sleeping Beauty" – 3:20 European CD single # "I Quit" – 3:53 # "Butterfly" – 3:34 Australian CD single # "I Quit" – 3:53 # "Sleeping Beauty" – 3:20 # "Cold World" – 5:35 # "I Quit" (Dave Sears 'On Time Mix') – 7:38

Personnel

Personnel are lifted from the Australian CD single liner notes. *

– writing, production *

– writing * Notodog – production * Dave Bascombe – mixing *

Simon Fowler Simon Geoffrey Fowler (born 25 May 1965 in Meriden, Warwickshire) is an English singer and acoustic guitarist, best known as the frontman of Ocean Colour Scene. The Fanatics Simon Fowler commenced his music career as the lead singer and songwr ...

– photography

Charts

Release history

References

{{Reflist 1999 debut singles 1999 songs British pop songs Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by Phil Thornalley Songs written by Colin Campsie Songs written by Phil Thornalley TVT Records singles