"Murphy's Law" is a song recorded by Irish singer

Róisín Murphy Róisín Marie Murphy ( , ; born 5 July 1973) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and record producer. She first became known in the 1990s as one half of the pop duo Moloko alongside English musician Mark Brydon. After the breakup of Moloko, she em ...

. It was officially released on 4 March 2020, serving as the fifth single from Murphy's fifth solo studio album, ''

Róisín Machine ''Róisín Machine'' is the fifth solo studio album by Irish singer Róisín Murphy, released 2 October 2020 by Skint Records. The album received critical acclaim upon its release, ranking among the year's best by several publications. Commercia ...

'', released later that year. Written by Murphy, Dean Honer, Michael Ward and Richard Barratt, with song also produced by the latter, "Murphy's Law" lyrically refers to the adage of the same name in a scenario where Murphy unintentionally runs into a former lover.

Background and recording

In an interview with ''

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'', Murphy said "Murphy's Law" was the only track from the album they wrote and recorded in the studio together, with the others being more remote. After deciding a song about Murphy's law worked well as a

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track, she and the song's co-writers "tied it up with singing about

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", where Murphy first ventured into music, "and leaving a small town and going and making myself ..that part of your life where you make yourself, where it comes time to do your own nurturing and decisions." According to Murphy, the track was probably the most difficult song on the album to finish: "We were there writing it thinking, 'it's cheesy, but it's so strong.' So we kept going with it. The whole track was in a different key, I kept singing it and it never felt right, and then I said, 'well, stick it in another key and transpose it and I'll re-sing it.' So he arratttransposed it and we got this gender-bent vocal sound going and we haven't replaced it because we couldn't live without it. It felt like a perfect foil against the song."

Live performances

Murphy first performed the track live on ''

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'' on 2 October 2020. Industry title ''

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'' noted her appearance on the chat show amid record labels vying for reduced music performance slots, due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on television programming. During her tour in support of the album, Murphy instead performed "We Are the Law" (a remixed mashup with "We Got Together"), taken from her remix album '' Crooked Machine''.

Track listing

Single version #"Murphy's Law" (Extended Mix) – 8:00 #"Murphy's Law" (Edit) – 3:50 Album version #"Murphy's Law" – 6:51 Crooked Mixes #"Murphy's Law" (Crooked Cowbelly 1) – 8:57 #"Murphy's Law" (Crooked Cowbelly 2) – 8:01 #"Murphy's Law" (Murphy's Big Dub) – 11:05 #"Murphy's Law" (Murphy's Tones) – 9:53 Cosmodelica Remix #"Murphy's Law" (Cosmodelica Remix) – 7:43 #"Murphy's Law" (Cosmodelica Remix) dit– 3:56

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the

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of ''Róisín Machine''. * Róisín Murphy – songwriter, lead vocals * Richard Barratt – songwriter, producer * Dean Honer – songwriter, additional engineering * Michael Ward – songwriter, backing vocals * David Lewin –

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Randy Merrill Randy Merrill is an American mastering engineer who has worked with international artists including DAY6, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, One Direction, Adele, Imagine Dragons, Beck, Liam Gallagher, Jonas Brothers, Muse, Cage the ...

– mastering * Rhianna Kenny – backing vocals * Nesreen Shah – backing vocals * Philly Smith – backing vocals

Charts

Release history

References

{{Róisín Murphy Róisín Murphy songs Songs written by Róisín Murphy 2020 songs