King's Cross (song)

"King's Cross" is a Pet Shop Boys song, written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant^[1] and is a track on their 1987 album Actually. It was covered and released as a single in 2007 by Tracey Thorn.

Original version and the King's Cross Fire

Although the lyrics appear to refer to the King's Cross fire of November 1987, the album that the song appeared on was released two months before it. The song is actually about desperation and unemployment.

It was suggested that Pet Shop Boys release it a single to raise money for charity following the fire, but they never did. Music magazines at the time though (such as Smash Hits) carried adverts to call premium rate phone lines to hear the song, and the money from the phone call would then go to the charity for fire victims.

Tracey Thorn version

On 9 December 2007, Tracey Thorn released "King's Cross" as the final single from her Out of the Woods album.

A cover of "King's Cross" first appeared as an iTunes exclusive bonus track to Thorn's album Out of the Woods. Recorded for inclusion on the main album, Thorn says on her Myspace page that there was not enough room to include it.

Neil Tennant from Pet Shop Boys was also thanked in the sleeve-notes to Out of the Woods as he gave her motivation to record and release a new solo album twenty-five years after her first solo album.

Track listing

Digital download EP

1. "King's Cross (Hot Chip remix) " 6:49

References