"Arabian Knights" | ||||
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Single by Siouxsie and the Banshees | ||||
from the album Juju | ||||
B-side | "Supernatural Thing", "Congo Conga" | |||
Released | 24 July 1981 | |||
Recorded | 1981 | |||
Genre | Post-punk | |||
Length | 3:08 | |||
Label | Polydor | |||
Songwriter(s) | Susan Ballion, Peter Edward Clarke, John McGeoch and Steven Severin | |||
Producer(s) |
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Siouxsie and the Bansheessingles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Arabian Knights" on YouTube | ||||
Siouxsie singles chronology | ||||
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"Arabian Knights" is a song by English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees. The track was written by Siouxsie and the Banshees and co-produced with Nigel Gray. It was released in 1981 as the second and final single released from their fourth studio album, Juju .
Siouxsie later commented on the lyrics:"With 'Arabian Knights' it was quite a thrill to get the word 'orifices' on the radio." [1] The B-side,"Supernatural Thing",was originally recorded by Ben E. King,appearing on his 1975 album Supernatural . The extra B-side,"Congo Conga",was misspelled as "Conga Conga" on the U.S. edition of the 12". "Arabian Knights" was released on 24 July 1981 by record label Polydor. The single peaked at number 32 on the UK Singles Chart in 1981. [2]
The Guardian retrospectively qualified "Arabian Knights" as a "pop marvel" [3] while AllMusic described it as "dreamy". [4]
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins selected it in his playlist in December 2014 when he talked about some of his favourite music on BBC radio. [5]
Paul Roland covered "Arabian Knights" on his 1992 album Strychnine,while Icky Blossoms released it as a single in 2013. [6] Las Aves also covered it during a live session for French Television in 2014. [7]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Arabian Knights" | 3:08 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | ""Supernatural Thing"" | 4:26 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Arabian Knights" | 3:09 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Supernatural Thing" | 4:26 |
2. | "Congo Conga" | 4:14 |
Chart (1981) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Singles Chart [8] | 32 |
Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. The Times called the group "one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era".
Cocteau Twins were a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instrumentalist Simon Raymonde in 1983. The group earned critical praise for their ethereal, effects-laden sound and the soprano vocals of Fraser, whose lyrics often eschew any recognisable language. They pioneered the 1980s alternative subgenre of dream pop and helped define what would become shoegaze.
The Creatures were an English band formed in 1981 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and drummer Budgie of the group Siouxsie and the Banshees. The Creatures released their first EP Wild Things in 1981. They recorded four studio albums: Feast in 1983, Boomerang in 1989, Anima Animus in 1999 and Hái! in 2003.
Susan Janet Ballion, known professionally as Siouxsie Sioux, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. She came to prominence as the leader and main lyricist of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, who were active from 1976 to 1996. They released 11 studio albums, and had several UK Top 20 singles including "Hong Kong Garden", "Happy House" and "Peek-a-Boo", plus a US Top 25 single in the Billboard Hot 100, with "Kiss Them for Me".
Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni frequently credited simply as Marco, is a British guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with Adam Ant, Sinéad O'Connor, Siouxsie and the Banshees and many others from the late 1970s to the present day.
Superstition is the tenth studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in 1991. The lead single, "Kiss Them for Me", gave the band its first top 40 Billboard Hot 100 hit in the United States, peaking at No. 23, with the album peaking at No. 65 on the Billboard 200 chart. The band widened its musical influences with the arrival of musician Talvin Singh, who played tablas on the songs "Kiss Them for Me" and "Silver Waterfalls".
John Alexander McGeoch was a Scottish musician and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of the rock bands Magazine (1977–1980) and Siouxsie and the Banshees (1980-1982).
Once Upon a Time/The Singles is Siouxsie and the Banshees's 1981 compilation album featuring the band's UK single releases to date. The album featured several songs that had been released as singles yet had not appeared on any of the Banshees' four albums. Once Upon a Time/The Singles spent twenty six weeks in the UK albums chart. The sleeve was designed by Stylorouge.
Juju is the fourth studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was recorded at Surrey Sound studio with Nigel Gray as co-producer, and was released on 19 June 1981 by record label Polydor. Two singles were released from Juju: "Spellbound" and "Arabian Knights".
Hyæna is the sixth studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in 1984 by Polydor. The opening track, "Dazzle", featured strings played by musicians of the (LSO) London Symphonic Orchestra, a 27-piece orchestra called the "Chandos Players"; it was scored from a tune that Siouxsie Sioux had composed on piano. Hyæna is the only studio album that guitarist Robert Smith of the Cure composed and recorded with Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Tinderbox is the seventh studio album by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released on 21 April 1986 by Wonderland and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and by Geffen Records in the United States. It was the band's first full-length effort recorded with then-new guitarist John Valentine Carruthers; Carruthers had previously only added a few parts on the 1984 EP The Thorn. The first recording sessions for the album took place at Hansa by the Wall in Berlin in May 1985.
Universal Music Group released The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees in 2002 as the first reissue of the Siouxsie and the Banshees remastered back-catalogue. The most successful singles of the band were presented in a non-chronological order.
Downside Up is a four-disc box set collecting B-sides and bonus material from the catalogue of Siouxsie and the Banshees. Also included is The Thorn EP, originally released in 1984. Most of these songs were classics of the band's live repertoire like "Pulled to Bits", "Eve White/Eve Black", "Red Over White", "I Promise", "Something Blue", "El Día de los Muertos" and "B Side Ourselves". The box set was also released on iTunes.
The discography of Siouxsie and the Banshees, an English rock band, consists of eleven studio albums, three live albums, four compilation albums, one extended play (EP), and thirty singles. This list does not include material recorded by band members with the Creatures or the Glove, or solo work by Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin.
"Hong Kong Garden" is the debut single of English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released as a single on 18 August 1978 by Polydor Records, reaching number 7 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Israel" is a song by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released as a stand-alone single in 1980 by Polydor Records.
"Spellbound" is a song by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. The group wrote it and co-produced it with Nigel Gray. It was released in 1981 by record label Polydor as the first single from the band's fourth studio album, Juju.
"Slowdive" is a song by English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released in 1982 by record label Polydor as the first single from the band's fifth studio album, A Kiss in the Dreamhouse.
"Cities in Dust" is a song by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees from their seventh studio album, Tinderbox (1986). It was released on 18 October 1985 as the album's lead single.
"Supernatural Thing" is a song recorded by American soul and R&B singer Ben E. King. The single, released in 1975 by Atlantic Records, was a No. 1 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart for one week. It also reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Supernatural Thing" was written by Haras Fyre and Gwen Guthrie and was produced by Tony Silvester and Bert DeCoteaux. The song was included on King's 1975 album Supernatural.
Pop marvels such as Spellbound and Arabian Knights were poised, peerless exercises in magic realism that you could dance to.