i-Tunes Rush Release Charity Single

In the aftermath of the London bombings, emotions ranged from sadness and shock to horror and outrage. For former Hot Press-er and current music critic with the Daily Telegraph, Neil McCormick, all of these applied – but there was something else at work as well.

As a songwriter, McCormick found himself struggling to make sense of the senseless in the only way he knew how: through music. He had been in Edinburgh for the Make Poverty History march and concert, and woke up there the following morning to the news of the bombings in London. Traveling back to London under the cloud of the news, he got serious about a song he’d been kicking around for a while.

Titled ‘People I Don’t Know Are Trying to Kill Me,’ it had initially been provoked by newspaper headlines of a terrorist threat. Now the reality had struck close to home, and the words came tumbling out. He ran a rough draft of the song past Bono, with whom he has been working on the book U2 On U2, and the singer encouraged him, insisting, “This is a song that needs to be heard right now.”

With a demo in hand, McCormick started calling everyone he knew in the music industry through his position as The Daily Telegraph’s pop critic: PR and marketing people, studios, record companies and London-based musicians. The response was swift and hugely encouraging; everyone he spoke with agreed that something needed to be done, immediately, and they eagerly volunteered their services.

The idea seemed straightforward enough—record the single and release it as a downloadable MP3, with the proceeds going to benefit bombing victims and their families. But how quickly could it be done? Putting out a single can be a lengthy process, four to six weeks at minimum, and they needed a fast turnaround for the idea to make sense.

In a matter of days, McCormick had an A-list team lined up. The Endeavour label agreed to release it. Universal Music committed to distribution. Members of Paul McCartney’s band played on it. John Moss, ex-Culture Club, came in on drums. They borrowed David Gray’s recording studio. And mastering whiz Jon Astley agreed to give it the finishing gloss.

When people suggested it, McCormick himself agreed to sing the song, using his artist pseudonym, The Ghost Who Walks. As he noted in a piece, written for the Telegraph, “It was the song that was important, not the singer.”

The speed of the turnaround has been remarkable. The track was demoed on Tuesday and recorded on Thursday of last week. Now, with final production underway, the single ‘People I Don’t Know Are Trying to Kill Me’ will be available for download on i-Tunes by Monday, July 25 – less than two weeks after the first demo.

It could become the song that defines the moment.

* ‘People I Don’t Know Are Trying To Kill Me’ by The Ghost Who Walks is available through Endeavor/Universal distribution.