"Mayhem" is a song by

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western musical styles such as country with that of rhythm and blu ...

singer

Imelda May Imelda Mary Higham (born Imelda Mary Clabby, 10 July 1974), professionally known as Imelda May, is an Irish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Known primarily as a singer, she also plays the bodhrán, guitar, bass guitar and tambou ...

. Written solely by May, the song was released as her fourth single on 13 September 2010 and the second single from her third studio album of the same name. It has become one of May's signature songs, next to her first single "

Johnny Got a Boom Boom "Johnny Got a Boom Boom" is the debut single by Irish rockabilly musician Imelda May. Written solely by May, the song was released on 26 January 2009 on Ambassador Records, a sub-label of Universal Music Ireland, and is from her second studio a ...

Origin and recording

The song was written after the release of May's second studio album, ''

Love Tattoo ''Love Tattoo'' is the second studio album by the Irish rockabilly musician Imelda May, released on 20 October 2008 on Universal Music. Track listing Personnel All personnel credits adapted from ''Love Tattoo''s liner notes. ;Performers ...

'', which she was promoting on tour at the time of writing. The song was recorded during the ''Mayhem'' sessions at Embassy Studios, a sixteen track analogue recording studio in a converted cow shed, near Basingstoke,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. A remastered version of the song was released as a bonus track on the iTunes version of ''Mayhem''. Alternative mixes by Andy Green and producer Andy Wright were released as part of a

desktop widget A software widget is a relatively simple and easy-to-use software application or component made for one or more different software platforms. A desk accessory or applet is an example of a simple, stand-alone user interface, in contrast with a ...

available o
Imelda May's official website
Speaking of the writing and production of both the song and the album, May said: "I'm over the moon with how Mayhem has turned out – I hope people enjoy it. I feel I’ve made the album I wanted that reflects the spectrum of all my influences from music past but is a record firmly in the here & now."

Release and promotion

"Mayhem" was released on 13 September 2010 after the release of ''Mayhem'' in Ireland ten days earlier and after the album was delayed for release in the United Kingdom. The song was performed on '' The Late Late Show'' on 10 September and '' Later... with Jools Holland'' on 12 October. "Mayhem" was May's first release to chart in Ireland. Entering the charts on 9 September, it peaked in its second week at No. 24 in the Irish Singles Chart.

Music video

Filmed on a similar budget to her previous single " Psycho", the promotional music video for "Mayhem" is centered around the lyrics of the song, which is a story of a recently separated couple. The video also features The Imelda May Band performing the song.

Musicians and personnel

;The Imelda May Band *

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

bodhrán The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'' or ''bodhráns'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or oth ...

Darrel Higham Darrel Higham (born 5 January 1970) is an English rockabilly guitarist who performs with Kat Men. He was previously married to Imelda May and performed in her band. Biography Music career Higham started playing lead guitar with British rockab ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

s *Al Gare - bass,

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

*Stevew Rushton - drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

*Dave Priseman -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, flugel, percussion ;Technical personnel *Imelda May - producer, mixing * Andy Wright - producer, mixing *Gavin Goldberg - producer, mixing *Graham Dominy -

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

*Darrel Highham - mixing *Guy Davie - mastering

Track listing

All songs written by

. ;Digital download #"Mayhem" - 2:46 #"Mayhem" (acoustic) - 2:23 #"Proud and Humble" - 4:00 #"Mayhem" (mastered version) - 2:58 ;7" vinyl #"Mayhem" - 2:46 #"Proud and Humble" - 4:00

Chart positions

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayhem (Imelda May Song) 2010 singles Rockabilly songs Imelda May songs 2010 songs Songs written by Imelda May Decca Records singles