| "Kevin Carter" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Manic Street Preachers | ||||
| from the album Everything Must Go | ||||
| Released | 30 September 1996 | |||
| Format | CD, cassette | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 3:25 (Edit) | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Manic Street Preachers singles chronology | ||||
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"Kevin Carter" is a song by Manic Street Preachers, released as the third single from their album Everything Must Go in 1996. Its subject was the 1994 Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, Kevin Carter. The CD included "Horses Under Starlight", "Sepia" and "First Republic", while the cassette included an acoustic version of "Everything Must Go".
The song reached number nine in the UK Singles Chart on 12 October 1996, giving them a third straight top-ten hit. The single discography printed in back of the 1998 book "Everything - A book about Manic Street Preachers" incorrectly lists its UK chart position of number 7. The song's lyrics were written solely by missing member Richey Edwards.
The B-side, "Sepia", is a reference to the final scene of the film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where the two main characters are shown in freeze frame, which then is colourised to sepia tone. The lyrics of the track were written by Nicky Wire and seem to refer to the period when he and Richey Edwards were gaining notoriety in the music press for their confrontational views. 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' (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 Falling On My Head' for the Warchild charity compilation album, 'Help'. This track was replaced by a single release of the track "Further Away" in Japan.
The trumpet instrumental part of the song is used as the theme music to the ITV Wales political programme "Wales This Week".