"Killamangiro" is a song by English band, Babyshambles

Babyshambles

Babyshambles are an English indie rock band established in London. The band was formed by Pete Doherty during a hiatus from his former band The Libertines, but Babyshambles has since become his main project . Babyshambles has released two albums, three EPs and a number of singles...

, released in November 2004 through Rough Trade Records

Rough Trade Records

Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...

. It achieved respectable chart success, peaking at #8 on the UK singles chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

.

The song itself features an unusual opening beat from ex-Babyshambles drummer Gemma Clarke

Gemma Clarke

Gemma Clarke is a professional musician who was previously the drummer for The Suffrajets, The Krak and Babyshambles.-Babyshambles:For a year, Clarke played drums for the ex-Libertine Pete Doherty's band Babyshambles...

 and is also recognised for guitarist Patrick Walden

Patrick Walden

Patrick George Walden is best known as the former guitarist for Babyshambles. Prior to joining Babyshambles, Walden belonged to a variety of London groups, among which were Fluid, the Six Cold Thousand, and The White Sport. He played guitar for The White Sport alongside another future Babyshambles...

's "messy" style of play and frontman Pete Doherty

Pete Doherty

Peter Doherty is an English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist. He is best known musically for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he reformed with Carl Barât in 2010. His other musical project is indie band Babyshambles...

's distinctive vocals. It is a regular feature of live setlists by the band and has gone on to be one of their most popular and well known songs.

The title is a pun

Pun

The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...

 on the name of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, but further mixes in the song's lyrics about "kill[ing] a man for his giro

Giro

A Giro or giro transfer is a payment transfer from one bank account to another bank account and instigated by the payer, not the payee...

" - a bank deposit method often associated with British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 unemployment benefits.

The track was released as a single, and subsequently included on the album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 Down in Albion

Down in Albion

Down in Albion is the debut album by Babyshambles, Pete Doherty's post-Libertines band.Down in Albion was released on November 14, 2005 on Rough Trade Records, although it was leaked on to the Internet on October 19, 2005. Produced by Mick Jones, Down in Albion contains a rerecorded version of...

 with different production (Mick Jones

Mick Jones (The Clash)

Michael Geoffrey "Mick" Jones is the former lead guitarist, secondary vocalist and co-founder for the British punk rock band The Clash until his dismissal in 1983. He went on to form the band Big Audio Dynamite with Don Letts before line-up changes led to the formation of Big Audio Dynamite II and...

) and a different drummer (Adam Ficek

Adam Ficek

Adam Ficek is an English musician who performs under the 'Roses Kings Castles' name, and was a song writer and member of Babyshambles....

) from the original. The circumstances of the recording of the song for the album were remarked upon by Babyshambles bass player Drew McConnell

Drew McConnell

Drew McConnell is the bass guitarist and backing vocalist with Babyshambles, the band formed and fronted by frontman of The Libertines, Pete Doherty. He lived in Tenerife, Spain, for much of his childhood, and he speaks Spanish fluently...

 on 5 November 2005 in the New Musical Express:

"We weren't planning on having 'Killamangiro' on there. We got in the room and thought, "Let's run through 'Killamangiro'", but sneaky Mick pressed record. Pete was jumping over the desk and giving the engineer a heart attack. Pete's got a thing about not releasing tracks more than once. People have written that we can't play our instruments and that's really not true because this is completely live."

Music video

The video for "Killamangiro" features orange tinted live footage of the band on stage, with snippets of Doherty walking down a street, out of a shop, mock hanging himself with his mic cord, flicking through a magazine, and driving along in a car (complete with a Christmas tree air freshener). was also shot at the underground in stoke on trent

Track listing

• CD rtradscd201

1. "Killamangiro"
2. "Man Who Came To Stay"
3. "Killamangiro" (Video)

• 7" rtrads201

1. "Killamangiro"
2. "Man Who Came To Stay"

Chart performance

Chart (2004)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	8
Irish Singles Chart	40