| Walking Wounded | |
| Cover: | Walking Wounded EbtG single cover.png |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Everything but the Girl |
| Album: | Walking Wounded |
| Recorded: | 1995 |
| Studio: | Little Joey's, Milo, The Strongroom (London, England) |
| Genre: |
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| Length: |
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| Label: | Virgin |
| Composer: | Spring Heel Jack |
| Lyricist: | Ben Watt |
| Producer: | Spring Heel Jack |
| Prev Title: | Missing |
| Prev Version: | Tood Terry remix |
| Prev Year: | 1995 |
| Next Title: | Wrong |
| Next Year: | 1996 |
"Walking Wounded" is a song by English musical duo Everything but the Girl. Member Ben Watt wrote the song's lyrics while electronic music duo Spring Heel Jack (John Coxon and Ashley Wales) composed the music and produced the track. The song appears on Everything but the Girl's ninth studio album, Walking Wounded (1996), in two different versions: the album version as track five and the Omni Trio remix as the final track.[1] It was the duo's first single release on Virgin Records, as their previous label, Blanco y Negro, had dropped them before the Todd Terry remix of "Missing" became a worldwide hit.[2]
In April 1996, "Walking Wounded" was released as the first single from the album in the United Kingdom; in the United States, "Wrong" served as the lead single instead.[3] Music critics acclaimed the song, with several focusing on Tracey Thorn's vocal performance. Commercially, "Walking Wounded" peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart, giving the duo their third top-10 hit, and entered the top 40 in four other countries. A black-and-white music video was made for the single, featuring Thorn, Watt, and others holding up picture frames in front of various people.
Andy Beevers of British newspaper Record Mirror gave "Walking Wounded" a ranking of five out of five, praising the band for not reworking one of their older tracks and comparing it to Tracey Thorn's collaborations with Massive Attack, describing the single as a "melancholy downbeat song" and the main vocal mix as "atmospheric".[4] Trade paper Music Week also gave the song a five out of five and named it their "Single of the Week" for 30 March 1996, complimenting Thorn's vocals on the track and calling it a "wonderful take on ambient jungle".[5] Timothy White of Billboard magazine called the track "foreboding" and noted that both it and "Wrong" "represent further advances in Thorn and Watt's proficiency at bending the jungle/drum-and-bass dance rhythms of London's clubs and New York's deep house scene to their own neo-jazz-pop purposes".[3] Victoria Segal from Melody Maker said it "is very fine indeed, Tracey's voice almost unbearably vulnerable as it threatens to fall through the gaps in Spring Heel Jack's spacious, rolling mix."[6]
Retrospectively, "Walking Wounded" has continued to receive acclaim. In 2017, Rhino Entertainment noted Thorn's "haunting" vocal performance and the track's "skittering percussion", writing that it has a "stillness that cuts through the busy undercurrent".[7] In 2021, Justin Chadwick of music website Albumism wrote that the song "begins in atmospheric, subdued fashion before gloriously morphing into hypnotic drum and bass patterns".[8] Reviewing the parent album on his website in 2023, British music critic Steve Pafford referred to "Walking Wounded" as "gorgeously orchestrated" and noted the compatibility between Thorn's vocals and the music.[9]
On the UK Singles Chart, "Walking Wounded" debuted and peaked at number six on the week beginning 14 April 1996, giving Everything but the Girl their third top-10 hit and fifth top-40 single. It stayed in the top 100 for 12 nonconsecutive weeks, making it the duo's second-longest stay on the UK chart, after "Missing". It also peaked at number two on the UK Dance Singles Chart. In Ireland, the single spent top weeks within the Irish Singles Chart top 30, peaking at number 29. On the Eurochart Hot 100, the song debuted at number 33 on 27 April 1996 based on its UK sales alone.[10] The following week, with sales from France, Ireland, and Sweden added in, it rose to its peak of number 30. Across Europe, the song charted in Sweden and Switzerland, reaching numbers 34 and 41, respectively. It was also a top-40 hit in both Australia and New Zealand, peaking at number 30 in the former country and at number 31 in the latter.
A1. "Walking Wounded" (main vocal mix) – 6:04
A2. "Walking Wounded" (Spring Heel Jack dub mix) – 6:49
AA1. "Walking Wounded" (Dave Wallace remix) – 8:18
AA2. "Walking Wounded" (Omni Trio remix) – 6:43
Credits are adapted from the UK CD single liner notes and the Walking Wounded album notes.[11] [16]
Studios
Personnel
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 8 April 1996 | Virgin | [18] | |
| Japan | 9 May 1996 | CD | [19] |