"D.C." is a song by Australian

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Died Pretty Died Pretty, sometimes The Died Pretty, were an Australian alternative rock band founded by mainstays Ron Peno (lead singer) and Brett Myers (lead guitarist and backing vocalist) in Sydney in 1983. Their music started from a base of early elec ...

. It was released in September 1991 as the second single from their fourth studio album '' Doughboy Hollow''. The song peaked at number 124 on the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

. It was nominated for Best Video at the 1992 Aria Awards.

Lyrical content

Talking to

Richard Kingsmill Richard Kingsmill is an Australian radio announcer and music journalist. He worked for ABC radio station triple j from 1988 until his redundancy in December 2023, and was the station's longest-serving presenter. From 2017 he was group music d ...

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

in 1996, Peno explained, "The lyric is about the passing of someone, and coming to terms with it. Lyrically I wrote it about a dear friend that passed away while we were on tour in Europe. His name was David Cox—hence the "D.C." title. He was this wonderful person who came into my life, influenced me and left it again before his time." Peno agreed with Kingsmill's assessment that the song was "a bit of an anthem", stating that he "love the song" because "it's straight from the heart".

Reception

Double J named it in the top fifty Australian songs of the 1990s, saying, "Like so many of their songs, "D.C." is passionate, euphoric and transcendent. Ron Peno sings his heart out against a backdrop of rich instrumentation in exquisite balance. Klein Blue perfection in a song."

Rolling Stone Australia ''Rolling Stone Australia'' is the Australian edition of the United States' ''Rolling Stone'' magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture, published monthly. The Australian version of ''Rolling Stone'' was initially published in 197 ...

said, "featuring Go-Betweens violinist Amanda Brown, the poppy single "DC" finds the bright side of saying goodbye just as Hoey's churchy organ enters the frame." Caz Tran at Double J agreed, "his voice is laced with stirring emotion. It feels as though he’s singing it to the sky from a mountaintop, at once jubilant as much it is deeply mournful. Brown's violin and Sarah Peet's cello combine with Brett Myers' chiming guitar licks, as the song ends with a gorgeous emotional release." In

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

Mark Seymour Mark Jeremy Seymour (born 26 July 1956) is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. He was the frontman and songwriter of rock band Hunters & Collectors from 1981 until 1998. Seymour has carved a solo career, releasing his debut solo alb ...

said, "It is full of yearning and melancholy - the lyric is still fresh, like all great love songs. D.C. captures the essence of events as though they have occurred only minutes before. We feel as though the song has simply erupted, the singer seemingly overwhelmed with feeling."

Track listing

# "D.C." - 4:33 # "Wonder" - 3:44 # "Everybody Moves" - 4:50

References

{{Authority control 1991 singles 1991 songs Song recordings produced by Hugh Jones (producer)