Making Plans for Nigel

About Making Plans for Nigel

"Making Plans for Nigel" is a song by the English rock band XTC that was released as the opening track and lead single from their 1979 album Drums and Wires. It was written by Colin Moulding, the band's bassist. The lyrics are told from the point of view of parents who are certain that their son Nigel is "happy in his work", affirming that his future in British Steel "is as good as sealed", and that he "likes to speak and loves to be spoken to."The single marked XTC's commercial breakthrough. It spent 11 weeks on the UK Singles Chart and peaked within the top 17 (the exact peak position is unknown due to a computing error by the chart compilers). As a response to the song, British Steel gathered four Sheffield employees named Nigel to talk about job satisfaction for the trade publication Steel News. In 2016, the song was ranked number 143 on the Pitchfork website's list of the 200 best songs of the 1970s. more »