Ships (Where Were You)

"Ships (Where Were You)" is a song by Scottish rock band Big Country, written by Stuart Adamson (lyrics, music) and Bruce Watson (music). The song was originally recorded for and included on the band's fifth studio album No Place Like Home (1991). It was then re-recorded for their following album, The Buffalo Skinners (1993), and released as the album's second single. "Ships (Where Were You)" reached number 29 in the UK Singles Chart and remained in the top 75 for three weeks.[2]

"Ships (Where Were You)"
Single by Big Country
from the album The Buffalo Skinners
B-side"Oh Well"
Released19 April 1993[1]
Length5:54
LabelCompulsion
Chrysalis
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Big Country
Big Country singles chronology
"Alone"
(1993)		 "Ships (Where Were You)"
(1993)		 "The One I Love"
(1993)
Music video
"Ships (Where Were You)" on YouTube

In a 1991 interview for the Big Country fanzine Inwards, Adamson described "Ships" as being "about people that think they get passed by, by things, because everybody does at certain times".[3]

Background

"Ships" was originally recorded for the band's fifth studio album No Place Like Home (1991) as a piano and vocal-based track, with a string quartet.[4] As they were not happy with the original version, the band decided to re-record the song for their next album, The Buffalo Skinners, and give it the "guitar treatment". Watson told the Lennox Herald in 1993, "We didn't like how 'Ships' and 'We're Not in Kansas' turned out. Our relationship with Phonogram Records was at an all-time low and we simply weren't doing justice to some of the songs we'd written, so we decided to go back in and do them again."[5]

In a 1993 interview with Simon McKenzie, Adamson commented, "I'll [tell] you how bad things got. When I took the original demo versions of 'Ships' and 'Kansas' to the record company, they didn't even want them on No Place Like Home. They couldn't even hear them as songs. But 'Ships' has been a huge success [as a single] throughout Europe at the moment. Even as we speak, it's gone really big all over the radio."[6]

Music video

The song's music video was directed by Nick Morris and produced by Fiona O'Mahoney for Spudnick. Most of the video captures the band performing the song in a warehouse setting.[7]

Critical reception

Upon its release as a single in 1993, Peter Kinghorn of the Newcastle Evening Chronicle described the song as a "powerful rock ballad" with a "fine performance".[8] Andrew Hirst of the Huddersfield Daily Examiner considered it to be "the quietest track on the noisy Buffalo Skinners album", but added that "it's definitely not the runt of the litter". He praised it "a deeply metaphoric lament which more than deserves its leap into the charts at 29".[9]

In a review of The Buffalo Skinners, Dick Hogan of The Gazette considered the song to be a combination of Eagles' "Witchy Woman" and the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses". He commented, "Here Big Country varies its straight-ahead driving sound with a softer beginning before kicking into overdrive. The lyric is a dark picture about human despair."[10] Christi Conover of The Daily Herald commented: "...when things slow down for the song 'Ships', the listener discovers a beautiful utilization of piano and keyboards."[11]

Track listing

7-inch single

  1. "Ships (Where Were You)" – 5:54
  2. "Oh Well" – 2:18

CD single

  1. "Ships (Where Were You)" – 5:54
  2. "Woodstock" – 4:13
  3. "Oh Well" – 2:18
  4. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" – 4:30

CD single (UK #2)

  1. "Ships (Where Were You)" – 5:54
  2. "Buffalo Skinners" – 4:59
  3. "Cracked Actor" – 3:09
  4. "Paranoid" – 2:46

CD single (UK promo)

  1. "Ships (Where Were You)" (Radio Edit) – 4:10
  2. "Ships (Where Were You)" (Full Length) – 5:54

Personnel

1993 recording

Big Country

Additional musicians

Production

  • Big Country – producers (all tracks), mixing (all tracks except "Ships" and "Buffalo Skinners")
  • Dave Bascombe – mixing on "Ships"
  • Chris Sheldon – recording on "Ships" and "Buffalo Skinners", mixing on "Buffalo Skinners"
  • Simon Dawson – recording on "Oh Well", "Woodstock", "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "Paranoid"

Charts
Chart (1993) Peak
position
Canadian RPM Top Singles[12] 54
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)[13] 68
UK Singles Chart[2] 29

References
  1. "Ships (Where Were You)". Daily Mirror. 22 April 1993. p. 7. Retrieved 21 July 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. "BIG COUNTRY | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  3. "Inwards Issue 2 - Page 36". www.bigcountryinfo.com.
  4. "Stuart Adamson Quotes on Big Country Songs..." stuart-adamson.co.uk.
  5. "Big Country are back in a big way". Lennox Herald. 19 March 1993. p. 22. Retrieved 21 July 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. "Country Club Issue 29 - Page 18". bigcountryinfo.com. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  7. "Monitor: Promos in Production" (PDF). Music Week. 20 March 1993. p. 8. Retrieved 21 July 2023 – via World Radio History.
  8. Kinghorn, Peter (3 May 1993). "Record reviews". Evening Chronicle. p. 7. Retrieved 21 July 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. Hirst, Andrew (1 May 1993). "Record Reviews: Singles". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Huddersfield. p. 3. Retrieved 21 July 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. Hogan, Dick (1 October 1993). "'Buffalo' harkens back to Big Country's roots". The Gazette.
  11. Conover, Christi (19 September 1993). "Album includes fast-paced guitars, dark lyrics". The Daily Herald.
  12. "RPM Magazine" (PDF). June 12, 1993.
  13. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 10, no. 20. 15 May 1993. p. 23. OCLC 29800226. Retrieved 21 July 2023 – via World Radio History.
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