"No Man's Land" is the first single released by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

singer-songwriter

Beverley Knight Beverley Knight (born Beverley Anne Smith, 22 March 1973) is an English recording artist and musical theatre actress. She released her first album, '' The B-Funk'', in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke an ...

from her fifth studio album, ''

Music City Soul ''Music City Soul'' is the fifth studio album by British singer-songwriter Beverley Knight. It was released on Parlophone Records on 7 May 2007 in the United Kingdom. The album contains the singles " No Man's Land", "After You" and " The Queen o ...

''. The song was released on 16 April 2007 digitally and 30 April 2007 physically and peaked at number forty-three 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 ...

. A further digital single was released on August 21, 2007, in support of her live performances at the iTunes festival in July, 2007, containing three live tracks. The digital EP release was the first of a two-part digital single, the second being released to promote the third single from ''

'', " The Queen of Starting Over".

Background and production

"No Man's Land" was written by Beverley Knight with Jimmy Hogarth and Eg White and produced by Jimmy Hogarth & Eg White in late 2006. The lyrics of the song reflect Knight's emotional state after the break-up of a long-term relationship: "This song came about referring to my relationship, and feeling that even though I was out of the relationship, I wasn't able to put it behind me and move on to the next phase. Something which I know lots of people experience, and to me it felt like no mans land." The production is made up completely of live instruments, illustrating the organic approach Knight took in recording the song and its album, ''

''. On reflection of "No Man's Land", Knight noted: "That song was quite painful to write, but cathartic because once I'd written it, I thought 'I've said what I wanted to say'."

Track listing

CD: 1 # "No Man's Land" # "

Shoulda Woulda Coulda "Shoulda Woulda Coulda" is a song by English singer Beverley Knight, released as the second single from her third studio album, '' Who I Am'' (2002). Written about the breakup of her long-term relationship because she decided to put her career ...

" CD: 2 # "No Man's Land" # "Time Is on My Side" (Nashville acoustic version) # "

Piece of My Heart "Piece of My Heart" is a romantic soul love song written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns, originally recorded by Erma Franklin in 1967. Franklin's single peaked in December 1967 at number 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles char ...

" (Heart 106.2 live acoustic version) # "No Man's Land" (video) # "No Man's Land" (making of) Download only versions: # "No Man's Land" (Nashville version) (iTunes exclusive) iTunes festival EP release: # "No Man's Land" (live at the iTunes festival) # "Saviour" (live at the iTunes festival) # "Shoulda Woulda Coulda" (Philly mix) (live at the iTunes festival)

Music video

The music video for "No Man's Land" was shot in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

during February 2007 and was directed by JT, who had previously worked with Knight on the videos for " Come as You Are", " Keep This Fire Burning" and "

". Set in the

Hout Bay Hout Bay ( af, Houtbaai, meaning "Wood Bay") is a harbour town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is situated in a valley on the Atlantic seaboard of the Cape Peninsula, twenty kilometres south of Cape Town. The name "Hout Bay" can ...

area of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, the video features Knight walking through a large open field before moving to other locations such as a park, hotel bedroom and beach. The location for the video was of special significance to Beverley as it was an area she had visited previously in connection with her charity work in bring awareness to

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

in South Africa. It was also the location of the video to her single "

", released in 2002. The video was premiered on AOL's website in late March 2007, before being released to television.

Chart performance

"No Man's Land" was premiered by

Ken Bruce Kenneth Robertson Bruce (born 2 February 1951) is a British broadcaster who is best known for hosting his long-running weekday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 from 1986 to 1990, and then again since 1992. Early life and career Bruce was born a ...

on BBC Radio 2 in March 2007 and was subsequently made "record of the week" for the week beginning March 17, 2007."No Man's Land" BBC Radio 2 record of the week
Retrieved March 16, 2007. The following week, "No Man's Land" was added straight on to the A-list of BBC Radio 2's playlist. However the song failed to make the same impact on other radio stations, peaking at number thirty-three on the UK airplay chart. 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 ...

, "No Man's Land" peaked at number forty-three making it Knight's lowest chart position in nine years. The song's poor performance was also reflected by the fact it failed to appear in either the top forty of the download chart or the TV airplay chart.

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:No Man's Land (Beverley Knight Song) 2007 singles Beverley Knight songs Songs written by Eg White Songs written by Beverley Knight Songs written by Jimmy Hogarth 2006 songs Parlophone singles