Manchild (song)

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.

  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. ^ Cite error: The named reference lat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).