Kings Cross

Kings Cross or King's Cross may refer to:

King's Cross (song)

"King's Cross" is a Pet Shop Boys song, written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant and is a track on their 1987 album Actually. It was covered and released as a single in 2007 by Tracey Thorn.

Original version and the King's Cross Fire

Although the lyrics appear to refer to the King's Cross fire of November 1987, the album that the song appeared on was released two months before it. The song is actually about desperation and unemployment.

It was suggested that Pet Shop Boys release it a single to raise money for charity following the fire, but they never did. Music magazines at the time though (such as Smash Hits) carried adverts to call premium rate phone lines to hear the song, and the money from the phone call would then go to the charity for fire victims.

Tracey Thorn version

On 9 December 2007, Tracey Thorn released "King's Cross" as the final single from her Out of the Woods album.

A cover of "King's Cross" first appeared as an iTunes exclusive bonus track to Thorn's album Out of the Woods. Recorded for inclusion on the main album, Thorn says on her Myspace page that there was not enough room to include it.

King's Cross (ward)

King's Cross is a ward of the London borough of Camden, in the United Kingdom. The ward has existed since the creation of the borough on 1 April 1965 and was first used in the 1964 elections.

Councillors

1965–1978

King's Cross ward has existed since the creation of the London Borough of Camden on 1 April 1965. It was first used in the 1964 election to Camden London Borough Council.

1978–2002

There was a revision of ward boundaries in Camden in 1978.

From 2002

There was a revision of ward boundaries in Camden in 2002. The ward covers parts of Bloomsbury and Kings Cross, which also crosses into St Pancras and Somers Town and the London Borough of Islington. For elections to Parliament, King's Cross is part of Holborn and St Pancras.

Kings Cross lies in the south of the borough, and is one of three wards of Camden south of Euston Road (along with Bloomsbury and Holborn and Covent Garden). It is separated from Bloomsbury by Upper Woburn Place, Tavistock Square, Tavistock Place, Hunter Street, and Grenville Street; from Holborn and Covent Garden by Guilford Street and Calthorpe Street; from the borough of Islington by Kings Cross Road and Pentonville Road; and from St Pancras and Somers Town by Euston Road.

From St Kilda to Kings Cross

"From St Kilda to Kings Cross" is an acoustic song performed and written by Australian musician Paul Kelly. The title refers to inner city suburbs St Kilda in Melbourne and Kings Cross in Sydney. It was released in April 1985 as the only single from Kelly's first solo album Post. The single did not chart on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. The song has found later acclaim with it appearing on lists for 'Top 20 Sydney Songs' and 'Top 25 Melbourne Songs'. The track has been recorded by other artists including Bob Evans' version on Before Too Long (November 2009) – a Paul Kelly tribute album.

Composition and background

In late 1984 Paul Kelly wrote "From St Kilda to Kings Cross" on Don Walker's piano while living at Walker's Kings Cross flat. Kelly had met Walker (Cold Chisel keyboardist and songwriter) through his ex-wife's sister. Kelly started composing the song as a blues variation on "From Memphis to Norfolk Is a 36-hour Ride" by Robert Johnson. By using Walker's piano the composition shifted to include the influence of "Never Going Back" by The Lovin' Spoonful. The song was released as a single in April 1985 but did not appear on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. The single's cover depicts a "black and pink image of Paul's face" on the White Records imprint by Mushroom Records. The song was written in a bleak period in Kelly's life: after the break-up of his band and his marriage, he had moved from Melbourne to Sydney in late 1984. In the biographical notes distributed to the media when Post was released, Kelly advised that in 1984 he packed all his worldly goods in a trailer, borrowed his father-in-law's Holden and drove from St Kilda to Kings Cross. During the second week of recording Post with Clive Shakespeare (ex-Sherbet guitarist) co-producing, Kelly recorded the track and he had a heavy cold which affected his voice but "seemed to suit the track". In 2000, he recalled working on it: