The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead

"The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead"
Single by XTC
from the album Nonsuch
B-side	"War Dance" (Moulding)
Released	1 June 1992 (1992-06-01)[1]
Studio	Chipping North (Oxfordshire, England)
Genre	Alternative rock[2] folk rock[2] jangle[3]
Length	5:02
Label	Virgin
Songwriter(s)	Andy Partridge
Producer(s)	Gus Dudgeon
XTC singles chronology
"The Disappointed" (1992) "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" (1992) "Easter Theatre" (1999)

"The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" is a song written by Andy Partridge of English rock band XTC for their 1992 album Nonsuch. It was their second number-one hit on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, after "Mayor of Simpleton", and reached number 71 on the UK Singles Chart. The song tells the story of Peter Pumpkinhead, a man who comes to an unspecified town and provides aid for the poor and homeless. He gains widespread public approval, but the government comes to resent his success and tries in vain to malign his reputation. Peter is ultimately nailed to a block of wood by his enemies, and his death is broadcast on live television.

The song was inspired by a jack o'lantern Partridge had carved and placed on a fence post in his garden for Halloween. Afterward, as he walked past it each day on his way to and from a home studio in which he composed songs, he observed its advancing state of decay and began to feel sorry for it. He said that he began thinking about "what would happen if there was somebody on Earth who was kind of perfect ... God, they'd make so many enemies!"^[4]