Kevin Carter

Kevin Carter was a photographer and won the pulitzer prize for a photo of a vulture standing looking over a starving child in Africa. The picture became famous despite it's controversial contents. Kevin Carter was a war photographer. The picture was taken during the apartheid and kevin carter and the group of photographers he travelled with [the bang bang club] were known as kaffir lovers. Kaffir Lovers were ppl who sympathised with the africans who were being discriminated against. Kevin Carter gave up war photography for nature he couldn't take the scenes of hardship ne more. But unable to cope with the guilt he went on to kill himself.

This is one of my favourite Manics songs, despite the odd lyrics and sad subject matter. The music evokes perfectly the turmoil Carter must have been feeling (the aaaah section).

In a broader sense, the song could represent the dilemma faced by most journalists in poverty-stricken or war-torn countries: whether to get involved or keep their distance.

"Named after the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who documented the war in Rwanda. After being accused of exploiting the situation for his own name (his photo of a child's body with a vulture in the background became a famous image of the war), he turned to wildlife photography. Unable to live with either the guilt or his memories of the conflict, he took his own life." okay I got it a bit wrong lol.

good music too!! love the trumpet solo

This song is musically one of the Manics' best I think. The lyrics are really interesting. I was thinking the other say about the line "Vulture stalked white-piped lie forever", which is a pretty bizarre lyric. But it made me think how ironic it was that Carter was photographing a vulture when the press (particularly the paparazzi) are often described as "vultures", making him the kind of super-vulture in that situation. Thinking about it like that, it doesn't exactly surprise me that he killed himself.

dude, i didn't know all that data related to this song. thanks. now this lyric has more sense to me.

ps: the trumpet solo is excellent.

guys!! i've just seen the photo you were talkin about. i gotta say SHOCKIN!!! and make me think about how powerful an image could be and how many ideas and different reaccions you can achieve with only one photo....

ps: sorry for my english is not my native language

So surely this is mirrored in Richie's feelings before he disappeared that the press were feeding off his misery and furthering their careers with it? The irony being that he (may have, here's not the place for the theories) killed himself because other people were doing this.

a link to the picture kevin carter won the pulitzer prize for: http://www.grijalvo.com/Africa/Kevin_Carter_Starving_Child_Pulitzer.jpg

Rumors are that he stood and waited like 20mins before he took the prize winning shot. then he chased the vulture away and left the girl, something he later regretted badly.