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Manchild (song)

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This article is about the Neneh Cherry song. For the Eels song, see Beautiful Freak.
"Manchild"
Single by Neneh Cherry
from the album Raw Like Sushi
B-side"Phoney Ladies" (US)
Released8 May 1989 (1989-05-08)[1]
StudioAbbey Road, Blackwing, Eastcote, Hot Nights, Sam Therapy (London, England)
Genre
Length3:52
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • The Bubble Bunch
  • Cameron "Booga Bear" McVey
Neneh Cherry singles chronology
"Buffalo Stance"
(1988) 		"Manchild"
(1989) 		"Kisses on the Wind"
(1989)
Music video
"Manchild" on YouTube

"Manchild" is a song by Swedish singer-songwriter Neneh Cherry, released in May 1989 by Virgin and Circa as the second single from her debut album, Raw Like Sushi (1989). It was the first song Cherry wrote; she composed it on a Casio keyboard using an auto-chord setting and ended up with seven chords in the verse alone. Neneh's stepfather Don Cherry commented on this positively, comparing it to a jazz song structure. Nellee Hooper created the beat for the song and wrote the rap with Robert Del Naja. Cherry then gave the track to her future husband, Cameron McVey, who helped to shape the song with the parts and "made it make sense".[2]

The song's lyrics are "directed at a full-grown man who has a little more growing up to do".[3] Cherry expressed the significance of the song for herself, stating it is where she found her sound: "I think "Manchild" was the song where I kind of found my style. I think that song, the style of the song, the spirit and the feeling of the song has reappeared; it always reappears along the way in other songs that I've written; therefore it became the most significant song that I ever wrote, in a way".[2] Commercially, "Manchild" was a top-10 success in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and several European countries, but it did not chart in the United States or Canada. The music video for "Manchild", directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, was nominated for "Best Video" at the 1990 Brit Awards.

Reception

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Critical reception

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The Los Angeles Times wrote about the song and its music video, "Nothing less than one of the most visually arresting video clips ever produced, illustrating one of 1989's truly great singles, an accusatory yet compassionate balladic broadside."[3] Mark Lepage from Montreal Gazette felt it "has a graceful sweep".[4] A reviewer from Music & Media described "Manchild" as "slower and more melodic" than "Buffalo Stance", declaring it as "a strong and highly commercial follow-up with a warm production."[5] Jerry Smith from Music Week complimented it as "a simple but highly effective ballad, sure to give her another hit. It's not as immediate but instead has a chorus with a hook that really bites deep after a few plays."[6] Sylvia Patterson from Smash Hits named it Single of the Fortnight, saying, "It's nothing like her last single, the stoating "Buffalo Stance", even though there's a few mean rappin' blethers in it but it's the chorus that curdles your windpipe. There's loads of floaty "pshoooo!!" noises and curious keyboard wizardries and it's highly creepy and mesmerising and makes you go all funny in the head."[7]

Retrospective response

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In a 2009 review of Raw Like Sushi, Angus Taylor for BBC noted, that the "offbeat, ambient ballad 'Manchild' showcases Cherry's maternal side".[8] In 2014, Lesley Chow from The Quietus wrote,

The title character is a guy with a run-down car, a cheating girlfriend and no willpower, so it's not surprising that we get a hypnotic sense of draining away. The strings have a repetitive, droning sound; they move gradually up or down a tone, so that the entire song seems to be slipping down a slope. A program of beats forms a continually revolving and reversing pattern, and the track feels as if it's shuffling or rotating by degrees (the video ingeniously matched this idea of constant slippage by showing Cherry surrounded by tilting levels of water). However, what's elating is the way that the song repeatedly threatens to lose its motor – and then regains it, by a whisker. All that downward movement should lead to a dead end, but just before momentum runs out, the vocal lifts to even out and stabilize the track. The lyrics are self-reflexive; the phrase "Turn around, ask yourself" is used as a pivot, a chance for the song to do a 180-degree turn.[9]

Music video

[edit]

The accompanying music video for "Manchild" was produced by French fashion photographer and music video director Jean-Baptiste Mondino. It shows Cherry on a virtual beach, while several other people can be seen in the background. Cherry's daughters, Naima and Tyson, and her step-son, Marlon Roudette, also appear in the video. The camera "slowly rocks back and forth" in line with the beat of the song.[3] It was later made available on Cherry's official YouTube channel in 2009.

Track listings

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Charts

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Sia version

[edit]
"Manchild"
Promotional single by Neneh Cherry and Sia
from the album The Versions
Released28 April 2022 (2022-04-28)
Length3:17
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Jesse Shatkin

In April 2022, Australian singer Sia released a version as a promotional single from Cherry's sixth studio album The Versions, released in June of the same year.[40][41]


References

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  1. ^ "New Singles". Music Week. 6 May 1989. p. 42.
  2. ^ a b "The J Files: Neneh Cherry". Double J. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Neneh Cherry's 'Manchild' Tops Among Music Videos, Los Angeles Times, 19 November 1989
  4. ^ Lepage, Mark (22 June 1989). "McCartney tunes less sunny under influence of Costello". Montreal Gazette. p. C3.
  5. ^ "Previews: Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. 20 May 1989. p. 18. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  6. ^ Smith, Jerry (6 May 1989). "Singles" (PDF). Music Week. p. 27. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  7. ^ Patterson, Sylvia (3 May 1989). "Singles: Single of the Fortnight". Smash Hits. p. 59. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  8. ^ "Neneh Cherry Raw Like Sushi Review". BBC. 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  9. ^ Chow, Lesley (12 May 2014). "Disorientating Eclecticism: Neneh Cherry's Raw Like Sushi Revisited". The Quietus. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  10. ^ Manchild (European 7-inch single vinyl disc). Neneh Cherry. Virgin Records, Circa Records. 1989. YR 30, 112 341.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ^ Manchild (European 12-inch single vinyl disc). Neneh Cherry. Virgin Records, Circa Records. 1989. YRT 30, 612 341.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. ^ Manchild (European mini-CD single liner notes). Neneh Cherry. Circa Records. 1989. YRCD 30.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  13. ^ Manchild (European maxi-CD single liner notes). Neneh Cherry. Virgin Records, Circa Records. 1989. YRCDT 30, 662 341-211.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. ^ Manchild (UK 12-inch remix single vinyl disc). Neneh Cherry. Circa Records. 1989. YRTX 30.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  15. ^ Manchild (UK cassette single sleeve). Neneh Cherry. Circa Records. 1989. YRC 30.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  16. ^ Manchild (US 7-inch single vinyl disc). Neneh Cherry. Virgin Records. 1989. 7-99154.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  17. ^ Manchild (US cassette single cassette notes). Neneh Cherry. Virgin Records. 1989. 4-99154.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  18. ^ "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 17 January 2014". Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2017 – via Imgur.
  19. ^ "Neneh Cherry – Manchild" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  20. ^ "Neneh Cherry – Manchild" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  21. ^ Danish Singles Chart. 16 June 1989.
  22. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 6, no. 29. 22 July 1989. p. IV. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  23. ^ Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  24. ^ "Neneh Cherry – Manchild" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  25. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Manchild". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  26. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 26, 1989" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  27. ^ "Neneh Cherry – Manchild" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  28. ^ "Neneh Cherry – Manchild". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  29. ^ "Neneh Cherry – Manchild". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  30. ^ "Neneh Cherry – Manchild". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  31. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  32. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Neneh Cherry – Manchild" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  33. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1989" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  34. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 – 1989" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 6, no. 51. 23 December 1989. p. 6. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  35. ^ "Top 100–Jaaroverzicht van 1989". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  36. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1989" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  37. ^ "End of Year Charts 1989". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  38. ^ "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1989" (in German). Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  39. ^ "Top 100 Singles–Jahrescharts 1989" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  40. ^ "Sia Adds Her Take On 'Manchild' To Neneh Cherry's Upcoming Album The Versions". Soul Bound. April 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  41. ^ Shutler, Ali (28 April 2022). "Neneh Cherry shares 'Manchild' featuring Sia from new collaborative album". NME. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
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