"I Quit" is a song by British female pop band Hepburn. The song was written by

Phil Thornalley Phillip Carden Thornalley (born 5 January 1960) is an English songwriter, musician, and producer who has worked in the music industry since 1978. He produced the album ''Pornography'' by The Cure and was later their bass player. He began releas ...

, who produced the track alongside Notodog, and Colin Campsie. Included on Hepburn's debut and only studio album, ''Hepburn'' (1999), the song also appeared on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the American

supernatural drama Supernatural fiction or supernaturalist fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction that is centered on supernatural themes, often contradicting naturalist assumptions of the real world. Description In its broadest definition, supernatural fic ...

television series ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...

''. "I Quit" was originally offered to Australian singer

Natalie Imbruglia Natalie Jane Imbruglia ( , ; born 4 February 1975) is an Australian and British singer and actress. Born and raised in New South Wales, Imbruglia became widely known in the early 1990s playing Beth Brennan in the soap opera ''Neighbours''. A ...

, who turned down the track. Hepburn recorded the song instead and released it as their debut single on 17 May 1999 through

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. Commercially, the song reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart and also charted in France, peaking at number 80. The song was released in the United States in October 1999 but failed to generate success.

Release and reception

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

released "I Quit" in the United Kingdom on 17 May 1999. Critically, British trade paper ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' compared the song's "angry" chorus to

Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, she became a cultural phenomenon during the mid 199 ...

's music, noting the song's maturity and calling it "instantly catchy and hummable". UK chart columnist

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a British music critic and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worke ...

wrote that the rhyming couplet "But you turned into another liar / And you came on like a new Messiah" was the "coolest" lyric of the 23 May 1999 chart week, when "I Quit" debuted at its peak of number eight on the UK Singles Chart. The song remained on the UK chart for nine weeks and is Hepburn's only top-10 single. In June 1999, Hepburn promoted the song by performing it live on music programme ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

''. In the United States,

TVT Records TVT Records, originally Tee-Vee Toons, was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb in 1984. Initially created to release the '' Television's Greatest Hits'' series of classic TV theme tune compilations, the label would expand into ra ...

serviced "I Quit" to rock radio stations on 5 October 1999, but it did not experience success. In mid-2000, the song charted on the

French Singles Chart SNEP (, in English National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing) is the inter-professional organisation that protects the interests of the French record industry. Originally known under the acronym SNICOP, the organisation was established in ...

for two nonconsecutive weeks, peaking at number 80 that May.

Track listings

UK CD1 # "I Quit" – 3:53 # "Sleeping Beauty" – 3:20 # "Butterfly" – 3:34 UK CD2 # "I Quit" – 3:53 # "Cold World" – 5:35 # "I Quit" (Dave Sears 'On Time Mix') – 7:38 UK cassette single # "I Quit" – 3:53 # "Sleeping Beauty" – 3:20 European CD single # "I Quit" – 3:53 # "Butterfly" – 3:34 Australian CD single # "I Quit" – 3:53 # "Sleeping Beauty" – 3:20 # "Cold World" – 5:35 # "I Quit" (Dave Sears 'On Time Mix') – 7:38

Personnel

Personnel are lifted from the Australian CD single liner notes. *

– writing, production * Colin Campsie – writing * Notodog – production * Dave Bascombe – mixing *

Simon Fowler Simon Geoffrey Fowler (born 25 May 1965) is an English singer, best known as the frontman of Ocean Colour Scene. The Fanatics Simon Fowler commenced his music career as the lead singer and songwriter for Birmingham band The Fanatics, which cons ...

– photography

Charts

Release history

References

{{Reflist 1999 debut singles 1999 songs British pop songs Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by Phil Thornalley Songs written by Colin Campsie Songs written by Phil Thornalley TVT Records singles