Cigarettes Will Kill You

"Cigarettes Will Kill You"
Single by Ben Lee
from the album Breathing Tornados
Released 1998
Format CD
Recorded 1997
Genre Alternative rock
Length 3:48
Label Modular Recordings (Australia)
Grand Royal (USA)
Writer(s) Ben Lee
Producer(s) Ed Buller
Ben Lee singles chronology
"Career Choice"
(1997)		 "Cigarettes Will Kill You"
(1998)		 "Ship My Body Home"
(1998)

"Cigarettes Will Kill You" is a single by Australian rock musician Ben Lee. Release from the artist's 1998 album Breathing Tornados and produced by Ed Buller, the song became a break-out success for Lee. It was voted #2 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 1998 and also reached #46 on the Australian singles chart.

During the 24 April 2006 concert at Irving Plaza in New York City, Lee described how he came up with the title for the track. He recalled that he had been listening to British rock group The Verve, who have a song called "The Drugs Don't Work". He was so impressed with the title of the song, that he decided to name his song with a similarly catchy title.

The name of the song as well as many of the lyrics refer to cigarette smoking as a metaphor for continuing to go back to a bad relationship even though one knows that it will end terribly and will cause hurt. Lee recounts how one often badly needs short-term comfort to get through an otherwise sad, frustrating life, compared to everyone knowing that smoking can cause health problems but many people continuing to get smoke anyway. The cover even resembles a pack of cigarettes.

The song was featured in the 2002 Australian comedy Crackerjack. It has also been referenced in comedy rock band Axis of Awesome's song medley "Four Chord Song", a reference to the chord progression in "Cigarettes Will Kill You" being similar to many other tracks such as Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" and Toto's "Africa".

Track listings

All songs written by Ben Lee unless otherwise stated

Australian CD single
  1. "Cigarettes Will Kill You"
  2. "Girls Talk" (Elvis Costello)
  3. "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" (Bob Dylan)
US CD single
  1. "Cigarettes Will Kill You"
  2. "Girls Talk" (Elvis Costello)
  3. "How to Survive a Broken Heart"

See also

External links

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