"Walking Down Madison" is a 1991 song by

Kirsty MacColl Kirsty Anna MacColl (10 October 1959 – 18 December 2000) was a British singer and songwriter, daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl. She recorded several pop hits in the 1980s and 1990s, including " There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears ...

featuring Aniff Cousins. It charted at No. 23 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 impacted a number of ''Billboard'' charts.

Background

The song was written after MacColl was searching for a new musical direction but instead found

writer's block Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...

; she tried writing things and asked others to try but it failed to click. Meanwhile, Smiths guitar player

Johnny Marr Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher, 31 October 1963) is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has since performed with numerous ...

had just come away from the Smiths (they'd split up a week earlier) and had written a song with the intent of writing a

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

-based guitar record. Despite it being the first song he had written after the split of the Smiths, he had kept it to one side for his own solo record after the presentation of some of his new material resulted in his friends stealing the tracks. Marr sent MacColl a tape containing the demo and other ideas as he was not interested in writing words at the time. Once MacColl had heard his guitar, she adjoined it with her lyrics and assembled a melody, and recorded the results at

Electric Lady Studio Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten ...

. The track also sports a more hip-hop-influenced sound than her previous work and features production from her then-husband

Steve Lillywhite Stephen Alan Lillywhite, (born 15 March 1955) is a British record producer. Since he began his career in 1977, Lillywhite has been credited on over 500 records, and has collaborated with a variety of musicians including new wave acts XTC, Big ...

. It also features rapper Aniff Cousins, who came to MacColl's attention after she heard the single "Black Whip" by his band Chapter and the Verse. In a 1991 interview with ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'', MacColl commented on the song's social message, "It was quite an observational song, I really did see a beaming boy from Harlem, even if it wasn't on Madison. It's a nod to

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

, it's '

I Shot the Sheriff "I Shot the Sheriff" is a song written by Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley and released in 1973 with his band Bob Marley and the Wailers. Bob Marley and the Wailers version The song was first released in 1973 on The Wailers' album '' Burn ...

', really, isn't it! That idea of being pulled for something you may or may not have done, and that you're more likely to get pulled if you look a certain way." "Walking Down Madison" was released in 1991 opening the album '' Electric Landlady'', on which it is the longest song. However, on most of her compilation albums, the 7" edit is used instead of the full album version. A selection of remixes by

Howard Gray Howard Gray (born 15 July 1962) is an English musician, sound engineer, programmer, composer, re-mixer and producer who has worked with Public Image Ltd, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Kirsty MacColl, the Armoury Show, the Pale Fountains, J ...

appeared across the various single formats.

Music video

A music video was produced for the song. It was shot on location on

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...

and features interspersed advertisements for '' Electric Landlady''. It shows both a smartly dressed MacColl walking down Madison amidst smartly dressed business men during the daytime and a more-scruffily-dressed MacColl with women sleeping rough, the "beaming boy from Harlem with the air force coat" (which is mentioned in the lyrics of the song), a man with a knife on the

A-train is a series of business simulation video games developed and published by Japanese game developer Artdink in Japan. The first game in the series was published in 1985. The first release in the United States was ''Take the A-Train II'', published ...

and other assorted characters at night whilst

Londonbeat Londonbeat is a British dance-pop band who scored a number of pop and dance hits in the early 1990s. Band members are American Jimmy Helms (who also had a successful solo career and sang radio jingles for Radio Hallam and Hereward Radio in the ...

dance. Cousins appears both during the day and at night. The night-time characters arrive in a chauffeur-driven

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a prof ...

and depart in it at the end of the video.

Critical reception

Upon its release, ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' noted the song's display of the "new styled MacColl" and described it as "match ngmodern dance material as supplied by acts like

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was release ...

or the Banderas." Terry Staunton of ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' was more critical, describing the song as "overall a bad idea" on which MacColl "goes dance frenzy". He noted, "Her soft and sombre vocals are ill-matched against the shufflebeat ndit doesn't quite give off the same sparks as the

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter best known for her folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered the ...

/ DNA link-up on '

Tom's Diner "Tom's Diner" is a song written in 1982 by American singer and songwriter Suzanne Vega. It was first released as a track on the January 1984 issue of '' Fast Folk Musical Magazine''. Originally featured on her second studio album, '' Solitude S ...

'. Stanton felt the song "might dent the charts on novelty value" and described Cousins' rap as "ok", but felt MacColl was better suited on the "sugary pop" of her previous works "

Days A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two s ...

" and "

Don't Come the Cowboy with Me Sonny Jim! "Don't Come the Cowboy with Me Sonny Jim!" is a song by British singer and songwriter Kirsty MacColl, which was released in 1990 as the fourth and final single from her second studio album ''Kite''. It was written by MacColl and produced by Steve L ...

". In the US, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' described the song as a "credible pop/hip-hop track that comes off at times like a tougher version of

's "

"." They noted the "infectious melody", "intelligent lyrics", "slicing guitars" and "affecting rap" from Cousins.

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

retrospectively commended the record as a "subtle, scathing takedown of the city’s neon facade".

Uses in other media

MacColl performed this song on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, 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 ...

''. Alison Moyet has covered this song live having been offered the chance to record it. Co-writer

has also covered the track. In addition,

Iain Banks Iain Banks (16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish author, writing mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, adding the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies (). After the success of ''The Wasp Factor ...

included it on ''Personal Effects'', a CD intended as music to listen to whilst driving.

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1991 songs 1991 singles Kirsty MacColl songs Songs about New York City Songs written by Kirsty MacColl Songs written by Johnny Marr Song recordings produced by Steve Lillywhite Virgin Records singles