Fifteen Minutes

Written by Kirsty MacColl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSQrH3JUQ2s

Chords

Chords for Fifteen Minutes, transcribed by akoustic.

Lyrics

Seven times in seven days
I’ve sat and wished my life away
I know the greyness comes and goes
But the sun don’t shine
And the snow don’t snow

There’s Suzy-Ann with her tits and curls
Where mediocrity excels
For those vicious boys and their boring girls
You know it makes me sick but it’s a bozo’s world

Then there’s always the cash
Selling yourself for some trash
Smiling at people that you cannot stand
You’re in demand
Your fifteen minutes start now

City banker looks are in
The heartless heart, the chinless chin
And you’d spill your beans for just a pint of gin
How you got so holy
And became so thin

In Sunday papers every week
The silly words you love to speak
The tacky photos and the phoney smiles
Well it’s a bozo’s world
And you’re a bozo’s child

Then there’s always the cash
Selling yourself for some trash
Smiling at people that you cannot stand
You’re in demand
Your fifteen minutes start now

Then there’s always the fame!
Autographs now and again
People who saw you on Blankety Blank
Or in the bank
Your fifteen minutes start now

Recording Notes

A decade after being schoolmates, I ran into Steve and he asked me to remix a Talking Heads track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObyHbqmD3zw). The break with Kirsty’s harmonies and Johnny’s jangly 12 string blew me away!

Halfway thru mixing, Kirsty burst into the studio with a guitar, exclaiming “I’ve written a song” (Her long period of writer’s block having apparently just ended) Handing me her Gibson she said “Colin you can play guitar can’t you?” (We’d first met briefly earlier that day) – 15 minutes later, we’d recorded ‘Fifteen minutes’.

Colin Stuart

Cover Versions

Cerys Matthews was the lead singer with Catatonia. She appeared on a BBC TV tribute programme for Kirsty in March 2001.

Halvsøstra (2009)

Halvsøstra plays Kirsty MacColl in norwegian. Glimpses from concert in Norway.

Halvsostra med Kirsty MacColl

Bethany Jean Conroy (2011)

We like this a lot.

Bethany Jean Conroy - 15 minutes (Kirsty MacColl cover)

Kirsty Songs

Other People's Songs