“Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down” is a 1980 standalone single by British band XTC, written by frontman Andy Partridge and produced by Phil Wainman. Though it didn’t chart as hoped, Partridge has called it his favorite XTC track, recalling the thrill of writing it in bed at 3 a.m. The song blends sardonic lyrics with a buoyant melody, warning a glamorous socialite that her superficial lifestyle won’t shield her when things fall apart—“Wait till your boat goes down / That’s when you’ll need me most.” It critiques material excess and fleeting charm with wit and melancholy, and later appeared on compilations like Waxworks and The Compact XTC.
