Walking Wounded (Everything but the Girl song)

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"Walking Wounded"
Single by Everything but the Girl
from the album Walking Wounded
Released8 April 1996 (1996-04-08)
Recorded1995
StudioLittle Joey's, Milo, The Strongroom (London, England)
Genre
Length
  • 6:05 (album version)
  • 4:06 (edit)
LabelVirgin
Composer(s)Spring Heel Jack
Lyricist(s)Ben Watt
Producer(s)Spring Heel Jack
Everything but the Girl singles chronology
"Missing" (Tood Terry remix)
(1995) 		"Walking Wounded"
(1996) 		"Wrong"
(1996)
Music video
"Walking Wounded" on YouTube

"Walking Wounded" is a song by English musical duo Everything but the Girl. Member Ben Watt wrote the song's lyrics while electronic music duo Spring Heel Jack (John Coxon and Ashley Wales) composed the music and produced the track. The song appears on Everything but the Girl's ninth studio album, Walking Wounded (1996), in two different versions: the album version as track five and the Omni Trio remix as the final track.[1] It was the duo's first single release on Virgin Records, as their previous label, Blanco y Negro, had dropped them before the Todd Terry remix of "Missing" became a worldwide hit.[2]

In April 1996, "Walking Wounded" was released as the first single from the album in the United Kingdom; in the United States, "Wrong" served as the lead single instead.[3] Music critics acclaimed the song, with several focusing on Tracey Thorn's vocal performance. Commercially, "Walking Wounded" peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart, giving the duo their third top-10 hit, and entered the top 40 in four other countries. A black-and-white music video was made for the single, featuring Thorn, Watt, and others holding up picture frames in front of various people.

Critical reception[edit]

Andy Beevers of British newspaper Record Mirror gave "Walking Wounded" a ranking of five out of five, praising the band for not reworking one of their older tracks and comparing it to Tracey Thorn's collaborations with Massive Attack, describing the single as a "melancholy downbeat song" and the main vocal mix as "atmospheric".[4] Trade paper Music Week also gave the song a five out of five and named it their "Single of the Week" for 30 March 1996, complimenting Thorn's vocals on the track and calling it a "wonderful take on ambient jungle".[5] Timothy White of Billboard magazine called the track "foreboding" and noted that both it and "Wrong" "represent further advances in Thorn and Watt's proficiency at bending the jungle/drum-and-bass dance rhythms of London's clubs and New York's deep house scene to their own neo-jazz-pop purposes".[3]

Retrospectively, "Walking Wounded" has continued to receive acclaim. In 2017, Rhino Entertainment noted Thorn's "haunting" vocal performance and the track's "skittering percussion", writing that it has a "stillness that cuts through the busy undercurrent".[6] In 2021, Justin Chadwick of music website Albumism wrote that the song "begins in atmospheric, subdued fashion before gloriously morphing into hypnotic drum and bass patterns".[7] Reviewing the parent album on his website in 2023, British music critic Steve Pafford referred to "Walking Wounded" as "gorgeously orchestrated" and noted the compatibility between Thorn's vocals and the music.[8]

Commercial performance[edit]

On the UK Singles Chart, "Walking Wounded" debuted and peaked at number six on the week beginning 14 April 1996, giving Everything but the Girl their third top-10 hit and fifth top-40 single. It stayed in the top 100 for 12 nonconsecutive weeks, making it the duo's second-longest stay on the UK chart, after "Missing".[9] It also peaked at number two on the UK Dance Singles Chart.[10] In Ireland, the single spent top weeks within the Irish Singles Chart top 30, peaking at number 29.[11] On the Eurochart Hot 100, the song debuted at number 33 on 27 April 1996 based on its UK sales alone.[12] The following week, with sales from France, Ireland, and Sweden added in, it rose to its peak of number 30.[13] Across Europe, the song charted in Sweden and Switzerland, reaching numbers 34 and 41, respectively.[14][15] It was also a top-40 hit in both Australia and New Zealand, peaking at number 30 in the former country and at number 31 in the latter.[16][17]

Track listings[edit]

Credits and personnel[edit]

Credits are adapted from the UK CD single liner notes and the Walking Wounded album notes.[18][23]

Studios

  • Recorded in 1995 at Little Joey's, Milo, and The Strongroom (London, England)
  • Mixed at various studios in London and New York City

Personnel

  • Everything but the Girl – artwork design
    • Tracey Thorn – vocals
    • Ben Watt – words, melody, synths, beats, abstract sounds
  • Spring Heel Jack – music, programming, recording, production, mixing
  • Mads Bjerke – engineering
  • Form – artwork design
  • Marcelo Krasilcic – photography

Charts[edit]

Chart (1996) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[16] 30
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[13] 30
Ireland (IRMA)[11] 29
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[17] 31
Scotland (OCC)[24] 13
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[14] 34
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] 41
UK Singles (OCC)[9] 6
UK Dance (OCC)[10] 2

Release history[edit]

Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United Kingdom 8 April 1996
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
 Virgin [25]
Japan 9 May 1996 CD [26]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Walking Wounded: Everything But the Girl". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  2. ^ "'Missing' Out on the Follow-Up". Music & Media. Vol. 13, no. 11. 16 March 1996. p. 4.
  3. ^ a b White, Timothy (6 April 1996). "Everything but the Girl: 'Walking' Tall". Billboard. Vol. 108, no. 14. p. 3.
  4. ^ Beevers, Andy (2 March 1996). "Hot Vinyl: Alternative". Record Mirror. p. 10.
  5. ^ "Reviews: Single of the Week". Music Week. 30 March 1996. p. 10.
  6. ^ "The One After the Big One: Everything but the Girl, Walkign Wounded". Rhino Entertainment. 16 May 2017. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  7. ^ Chapwick, Justin (6 May 2021). "Everything but the Girl's 'Walking Wounded' Turns 25 | Anniversary Retrospective". Albumism. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  8. ^ Pafford, Steve (23 April 2023). "Walking Wounded Coming of Age: Revisiting Everything but the Girl". stevepafford.com. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Everything but the Girl: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  10. ^ a b "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  11. ^ a b "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Walking Wounded". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  12. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles". Music & Media. Vol. 13, no. 17. 27 April 1996. p. 13.
  13. ^ a b "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles". Music & Media. Vol. 13, no. 18. 4 May 1996. p. 28.
  14. ^ a b "Everything but the Girl – Walking Wounded". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  15. ^ a b "Everything but the Girl – Walking Wounded". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  16. ^ a b "Everything but the Girl – Walking Wounded". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  17. ^ a b "Everything but the Girl – Walking Wounded". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  18. ^ a b Everything but the Girl (1996). Walking Wounded (UK & Australian CD single liner notes). Virgin Records. VSCDT 1577, 7243 8 93487 2 9.
  19. ^ Everything but the Girl (1996). Walking Wounded (Japanese CD single liner notes). Virgin Records. VJCP-12038.
  20. ^ Everything but the Girl (1996). Walking Wounded (UK 12-inch single sleeve). Virgin Records. VST 1577, 7243 8 93487 6 7.
  21. ^ Everything but the Girl (1996). Walking Wounded (UK cassette single sleeve). Virgin Records. VSC 1577.
  22. ^ Everything but the Girl (1996). Walking Wounded (European CD single liner notes). Virgin Records. VSCDE 1577, 7243 8 93516 2 0.
  23. ^ Everything but the Girl (1996). Walking Wounded (UK CD album booklet). Virgin Records. CDV2803, 7243 8 41698 2 4.
  24. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  25. ^ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. 6 April 1996. p. 47.
  26. ^ "哀しみ色の街 | エヴリシング・バット・ザ・ガール" [A City of Sadness | Everything but the Girl] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
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