| "Kiss Them for Me" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Siouxsie and the Banshees | ||||
| from the album Superstition | ||||
| B-side | "Staring Back", "Return" | |||
| Released | 13 May 1991 | |||
| Format | 7" single, 12" single | |||
| Recorded | 1991 | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, Pop | |||
| Label | Geffen, Polydor | |||
| Writer(s) | Siouxsie and the Banshees | |||
| Producer | Stephen Hague | |||
| Siouxsie and the Banshees singles chronology | ||||
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"Kiss Them for Me" is a song written and recorded by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees and produced by Stephen Hague. It was released in 1991 as the first single from the band's tenth studio album Superstition.
Melody Maker praised it as "gorgeous, wicked, glamorous and utterly self-aware. Pretty in pink".[1]
The song presented a change in musical direction for Siouxsie and the Banshees — adopting a much more straightforward pop-oriented feel than previous efforts, due in large part to Hague's production work. It is a mid-tempo track with an uplifting melody and South Asian instrumentation which had become popular in the UK club scene due to the growth of bhangra. Tabla player Talvin Singh (future percussionist of Björk on her 1993's Debut album) took part in the sessions and also sang during the bridge.
The song uses a sample of Schooly D's "P.S.K. What Does It Mean?" as a background. Even with its positive sound, Siouxsie Sioux's cryptic lyrics are an ode to actress and sex icon Jayne Mansfield [2] — using the actress' catchword "divoon", referring to her heart-shaped swimming pool and her love of champagne and parties, and to the grisly automobile accident which claimed her life in 1967. Kiss Them for Me was also the name of a 20th Century Fox motion picture made in 1957 starring Mansfield and Cary Grant.
"Kiss Them for Me" is Siouxsie and the Banshees' biggest hit in the United States. It became their second (and to date, last) entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and their first single to hit the top 40, peaking at number 23. It also became the band's second chart-topper on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart, spending five weeks at number 1 during the summer of 1991. "Kiss Them for Me" was the first Banshees song to hit the top 10 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart, peaking at number 8. It also spent several months in heavy rotation on MTV. In the UK, "Kiss Them for Me" peaked at number 32, the band's 16th top-40 single.
The Kathak Mix was remixed by producer Youth and released on the US version of the CD single. This version included spoken samples of Robert Anton Wilson in the introduction.
The song was covered by School of Seven Bells in 2010.[3]
| Chart (1991) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 40 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 29 |
| UK Singles Chart | 32 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 23 |
| US Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| US Hot Dance Club Play | 8 |
| US Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | 19 |
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