What Took You So Long by The Courteeners

Album: St. Jude (2008)

Charted: 20

License This Song

lyrics

Songfacts®:

This song is a pop at music anoraks. Michael Campbell, The Courteeners' drummer, told the Peterborough Evening Telegraph January 18, 2008: "I wouldn't like to put words in Liam's (frontman Liam Fray) mouth, but I think the general idea is about people who sit on their PCs collecting music but don't go out to gigs - you know, people who claim to have discovered a band in Japan that only three people have heard of."
This was produced by Stephen Street, who has also produced the likes of Blur, The Cranberries, Kaiser Chiefs and The Smiths. In the same interview Campbell recalled: "He was an absolute legend. He came to see us play live a few times, and the live tracks he heard then have transcended really well on to the album. He was really approachable, and he wasn't overbearing, or saying 'this is how the record's going to sound'. On one of the days he got out some of the B-sides of bands he'd worked with for us to listen to and he was really proud of it - and so he should be."
The Courteeners released "What Took You So Long" as the lead single from their debut studio album, St. Jude. The LP peaked at #4 on the UK Albums chart, with three of its tracks reaching the Top 40 on the UK Singles chart.
St. Jude won the inaugural Guardian's First British Album Award in December 2008, beating out debut albums by the likes of Adele, Duffy, and Noah and the Whale. Members of the public and The Guardian journalists voted for the award.
The Courteeners released a 15th Anniversary Edition of St Jude featuring remastered tracks, rarities, and previously unreleased material on January 13, 2022. It topped the UK Albums chart, breaking the record for the album with the longest time between release and reaching the peak position.

The Courteeners also became the third band in Official Chart history to reach #1 on the UK Albums chart with a re-issued album. They followed The Beatles (Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) and The Rolling Stones (Goats Head Soup, Exile On Main St.) as the only groups to have achieved the feat.