Making Plans for Nigel

"Making Plans for Nigel"
Single by XTC
from the album Drums and Wires
B-side
  • "Bushman President"
  • "Pulsing Pulsing"
Released14 September 1979
RecordedJune 1979
StudioThe Town House, London
Genre
Length4:14
LabelVirgin
Songwriter(s)Colin Moulding
Producer(s)Steve Lillywhite
XTC singles chronology
"Life Begins at the Hop"
(1979) 		"Making Plans for Nigel"
(1979) 		"Ten Feet Tall"
(1980)
Music video
"Making Plans for Nigel" on YouTube
Audio sample

"Making Plans for Nigel" is a song by English rock band XTC, released by Virgin Records as the lead single from their 1979 album Drums and Wires. It was written by Colin Moulding, the band's bassist. The lyrics are told from the point of view of overbearing parents who are certain that their son Nigel is "happy in his world", affirming that his future, to be spent working for British Steel, "is as good as sealed", and that he "likes to speak and loves to be spoken to".[6]

The single marked XTC's commercial breakthrough. It spent 11 weeks on the UK Singles Chart and peaked at No. 17. In 2016, the song was ranked number 143 on the Pitchfork website's list of the 200 best songs of the 1970s.[6] It was also ranked number 73 in NME list of 100 best songs of the 1970s.[7]

  1. ^ LaBlanc, Michael L. (1993). Contemporary Musicians: Profiles of the People in Music. Vol. 10. Gale Research. p. 270. ISBN 978-0-8103-2218-9.
  2. ^ Breithaupt, Don; Breithaupt, Jeff (July 17, 2000). "A Flock of Haircuts: New Wave". Night Moves - Pop Music in the Late 70s. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-312-19821-3.
  3. ^ Robbins, Ira A. (1997). The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock: The All-new Fifth Edition of The Trouser Press Record Guide. Simon & Schuster. p. 827. ISBN 978-0-684-81437-7.
  4. ^ Pollock, Bruce (2014). Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era. Routledge. p. 234. ISBN 978-1-135-46296-3.
  5. ^ Ross, Graeme (18 April 2019). "The 20 greatest singles of 1979". The Independent. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  6. ^ a b Pitchfork Staff (22 August 2016). "The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s". Pitchfork.
  7. ^ Rebecca, Schiller (4 June 2018). "100 Best Songs of the 1970s". NME. New Musical Express Magazine. Retrieved 25 October 2021.