"Kevin Carter" is a song by

Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, Blackwood in 1986. The band consists of cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (musician ...

, released as the third single from their album '' Everything Must Go'' in 1996. The song peaked at number nine 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 ...

Background and composition

The subject of the lyric was the 1994

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning professional photographer

Kevin Carter Kevin Carter (13 September 1960 – 27 July 1994) was a South African photojournalist and member of the Bang-Bang Club. He was the recipient in 1994 of a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph depicting the 1993 famine in Sudan. He died by sui ...

who was awarded for his image '' The Vulture and the Little Girl'', taken in what is now

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

. Carter was troubled by the balance of his professional responsibilities with moral considerations, leading to his suicide by

carbon monoxide poisoning Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as "flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large e ...

at the age of 33. The song's unusual feel can be attributed in part to the track being composed in open G tuning (as opposed to standard guitar tuning), which is commonly used in the playing of slide and bottleneck guitars. On the record, however, it is played with a Fender Jazzmaster. The jagged, descending chords of the verses lead into a lush extended middle section, which further points to experimental songwriting while also linking back to the spiky music on the band's previous album, ''

The Holy Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a v ...

''. James Dean Bradfield has said of the song, "It's quite a scratchy sound, but it's kind of complicated in its own humble way." Along with "Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier", it was one of two new tracks that he played on an acoustic guitar to the songs' lyricist,

Richey Edwards Richard James Edwards (born 22 December 1967 – disappeared 1 February 1995), also known as Richey James or Richey Manic, was a Welsh musician who was the lyricist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. He w ...

, shortly before he disappeared.

Release

The song reached number nine on the

on 12 October 1996, giving them a third straight top-ten hit, remaining in the charts for eight weeks. The song's lyrics were written solely by missing band-member

. The trumpet solo played by Sean Moore, has been used as the theme music to the

ITV Wales ITV Cymru Wales, previously known as Harlech Television and HTV Wales, is the ITV franchise for Wales. The new separate licence began on 1 January 2014, replacing the long-serving dual franchise region serving Wales and the West of England. Li ...

current affairs programme ''

Wales This Week ''Wales This Week'' is a long-running Welsh current affairs television programme produced by ITV Cymru Wales (formerly HTV Wales). The programme deals with a wide range of topics relating to the Welsh public, and is usually told through the eye ...

''. The CD included "Horses Under Starlight", "Sepia" and "First Republic", while the cassette included an acoustic version of " Everything Must Go". The second of the three other tracks, "Sepia", is a reference to the final scene of the film, ''

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch C ...

'', where the two main characters are shown in freeze frame, which then is colourised to

sepia tone In photography, toning is a method of altering the color of black-and-white photographs. In analog photography, it is a chemical process carried out on metal salt-based prints, such as silver prints, iron-based prints (cyanotype or Van Dyke b ...

. The lyrics also appear to reflect some of Nicky Wire's raw emotion following the disappearance of his close friend and bandmate. The Butch Cassidy connection is also referenced in their song "

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

" (which is where the characters from the film say they will go next, directly before the 'Sepia' sequence), and the decision to record "

Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the 1969 film ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid''. The uplifting lyrics describe somebody who overcomes his troubles and worries by realizing that "it w ...

" for the War Child charity compilation ''

The Help Album ''The Help Album'' is a 1995 charity album to raise funds for the War Child charity, which provided aid to war-stricken areas, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina. All the songs were recorded in a single day. The album features British and Irish ar ...

''. This track was replaced by a single release of the track "

Further Away "Further Away" is a song by Manic Street Preachers, released as the third single from their album '' Everything Must Go'' in Japan only in October 1996, replacing the UK single release " Kevin Carter". The single is all but the same as the UK CD1 ...

" in Japan.

Track listings

All music was written by

James Dean Bradfield James Dean Bradfield (born 21 February 1969) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. He is known for being the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. Biography Early life B ...

, Sean Moore, and

Nicky Wire Nicholas Allen Jones (born 20 January 1969), known as Nicky Wire, is a Welsh musician and songwriter, best known as lyricist, bassist and secondary vocalist of the Welsh alternative rock band, Manic Street Preachers. Prior to the group, Wire s ...

except where indicated. All lyrics were written by Richey James except where indicated. CD one # "Kevin Carter" – 3:28 # "Horses Under Starlight" – 3:09 (Instrumental) # "Sepia" (music: Bradfield, Moore. lyrics: Wire) – 3:54 # "First Republic" (music: Bradfield, Moore. lyrics: Wire) – 3:48 CD two # "Kevin Carter" – 3:26 # "Kevin Carter" ( Busts Loose) – 7:45 (Remixed by

Jon Carter Jon Carter (born 1970 in Essex, England) is an English electronic musician. He initially rose to prominence in the 1990s as a big beat DJ. However, as his career progressed both his productions and his DJ sets became known for including a vari ...

) # "Kevin Carter" (

Stealth Sonic Orchestra Apollo 440 (also known as Apollo Four Forty or @440) are a British electronic music group formed in Liverpool in 1990. The group has written, recorded, and produced five studio albums, collaborated with and produced other artists, remixed as ...

Remix) – 6:40 # "Kevin Carter" (

Soundtrack) – 6:37 Cassette # "Kevin Carter" # " Everything Must Go" (acoustic version) (music: Bradfield, Moore. lyrics: Wire) Epic 663775 4

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kevin Carter (Song) 1996 singles 1996 songs Epic Records singles Cultural depictions of photographers Manic Street Preachers songs Song recordings produced by Mike Hedges Songs about suicide Commemoration songs Songs written by James Dean Bradfield Songs written by Nicky Wire Songs written by Richey Edwards Songs written by Sean Moore (musician)