| "Dear God" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Midge Ure | ||||
| from the album Answers to Nothing | ||||
| B-side | "Music #1" | |||
| Released | 31 October 1988 [1] | |||
| Length |
| |||
| Label | Chrysalis | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Midge Ure | |||
| Producer(s) |
| |||
| Midge Ure singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Dear God" is a song by Midge Ure as the single from his album Answers to Nothing . It was his first and only song to reach the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number 95. [2] Elsewhere, the song also charted in the Netherlands and the UK.
In a 2015 interview with Songfacts, Ure said that he conceived the song soon after waking up. He subsequently rushed over to the recording studio located at the bottom of his garden to get these musical ideas on tape. For the song's lyrical content, Ure centered the central theme around the weaponization of religion for acts of violence, saying that he found it both "bizarre" and "obscene" that "staunch radical people will happily kill somebody else because they don't believe in the same God". He further added that the song was "like a child's prayer...It's a question and an explanation at the same time." [3] The song's lyrics contains a plea for a worldwide religion, although Ure said that this was unlikely to be fully realised. [4]
Ure recorded "Dear God" without knowing that XTC had released a song with the same title a few years prior. He only learned of the song's existence in early 1989 after his record company sent him a cassette containing the XTC track. When comparing the two songs, Ure labeled XTC's track as "a bit more cynical than mine, but a similar sort of sentiment, except mine was more questioning and theirs was a bit more sort of a statement." [4]
Tom Demalon of AllMusic thought that "Dear God" was Ure's best attempt at assessing the state of the world on his album Answers to Nothing. [5] Writing for the Los Angeles Times , Mike Boehm felt that "Dear God" grew stale after repeated listens and was inferior to "Hymn", a prayer-oriented song co-written by Ure during his time with Ultravox. [6]
| Chart (1988–1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Netherlands (Single Top 100) [7] | 29 |
| UK Singles (OCC) [8] | 55 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [9] | 95 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock [10] | 6 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks [11] | 4 |
Ultravox were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was their 1981 hit "Vienna".
James "Midge" Ure is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, Rich Kids, Visage, and as the second frontman of Ultravox. In 1984, he co-wrote and produced the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which has sold 3.7 million copies in the UK. The song is the second-highest-selling single in UK chart history. Ure co-organised Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8 with Bob Geldof. He acts as a trustee for the charity and also serves as an ambassador for Save the Children.
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of popular British and Irish musical acts. It was recorded in a single day at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, in November 1984.
Scott Michael Cutler is an American songwriter, musician, record producer, and music executive. As a member of the alternative rock band Ednaswap, he co-wrote "Torn" which was covered in 1997 by Natalie Imbruglia. Her recording became the worldwide number one airplay song, and spent 14 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay Chart in the US. "Torn" has sold an estimated four million copies, it is certified Platinum in 3 countries, and was declared the "number one radio single of the 1990s" by radio personality Rick Dees. Ednaswap released three albums between 1995 and 1998 and toured with No Doubt, Weezer, and Better Than Ezra
"Fly" is a song by American rock band Sugar Ray. It appears on their 1997 album Floored twice: one version with reggae artist Super Cat and the other without. The song was serviced to US radio in May 1997.
"Right Here Waiting" is a song by American singer and songwriter Richard Marx. It was released on June 29, 1989, as the second single from his second album, Repeat Offender (1989). The song was a global hit, topping charts in many countries around the world, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States where it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The same year, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was the UK's most streamed love song on Spotify ahead of Valentine's Day in 2013 and has since been covered by many artists, including R&B singer Monica.
"If She Knew What She Wants" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Jules Shear and introduced on his 1985 album The Eternal Return. The Bangles recorded the song for their 1986 album Different Light. That version, a call-and-response rendition with Susanna Hoffs as the main voice, was issued as a single and became a Top 40 hit. A mid-tempo ballad, it is sung from the viewpoint of someone, per songwriter Shear, "who wants to satisfy someone else but doesn't quite know how to do it because the other person is capricious." The song, especially The Bangles' version, is typically described with such adjectives as "bittersweet", "plaintive" and "wistful".
Dear God may refer to:
U-Vox is the eighth studio album by British new wave band Ultravox, released on 13 October 1986 by Chrysalis Records. It was the band's fifth album during the Midge Ure era, and the final one featuring the band's 1979 lineup, with the exception of Warren Cann, for nearly 26 years. The Ure-era lineup would eventually reform in 2008. It was also the last Ultravox album to reach the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number nine.
"Dear God" is a song by the English rock band XTC that was first released as a non-album single with the A-side "Grass". Written by Andy Partridge, the song lyrics grapple with the existence of God and the problem of evil. Partridge was inspired by a series of books with the same title, which Partridge viewed as exploitative of children. The song was originally intended for the album Skylarking, but left off due to concerns from Partridge and Virgin Records. After college radio DJs across America picked up the song, US distributor Geffen Records recalled and re-pressed Skylarking with the track included.
"More Than a Memory" is a song written by Lee Brice, Billy Montana, and Kyle Jacobs and recorded by American country music artist Garth Brooks. It was released on August 27, 2007 as his 51st single and first single from his third compilation album The Ultimate Hits. The song peaked at number 53 on the Billboard Hot 100, and debuted at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, the first song to do so in the chart's history, and becoming his first number one since "To Make You Feel My Love" in 1998.
The Gift is the debut solo studio album by Scottish musician Midge Ure, released on 7 October 1985 by Chrysalis Records. It was released while his band Ultravox were taking a break; the band would go on to release U-Vox (1986) before breaking up. The album reached No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart partly due to the large attention drawn to it by the single "If I Was" which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in September 1985. "That Certain Smile" was released as the second single in November 1985, and "Wastelands" was released as the third single in January 1986.
Answers to Nothing is the second solo studio album by Scottish musician Midge Ure, released in August 1988 by Chrysalis Records. It was the first release by Ure following the demise of Ultravox.
Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981.
"Mayor of Simpleton" is a song written by Andy Partridge of the English band XTC, released as the first single from their 1989 album Oranges & Lemons. The single reached No. 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, No. 1 on its Alternative Songs chart, and No. 15 on its Mainstream Rock chart, becoming the band's best-performing single in the United States.
"When I Think About Angels" is a song by Australian country music artist Jamie O'Neal. Penned by O'Neal, Roxie Dean, and Sonny Tillis and produced by Keith Stegall, it was released on March 12, 2001, as the second single from her debut studio album Shiver (2000); it is the opening track to the album.
"Never Gonna Leave This Bed" is a song performed by American pop rock band Maroon 5, taken from their third studio album, Hands All Over (2010). The song is a ballad and was written by frontman Adam Levine and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. It was released as the third single by A&M Octone Records. It was released in Australia in January 2011. The song was later released to the US mainstream radio on May 17, 2011.
If I Was: The Very Best of Midge Ure & Ultravox is a 1993 compilation album by Scottish musician Midge Ure, featuring songs from his solo career and as part of the new wave and synthpop band Ultravox, along with Ure's collaborations with Mick Karn, Phil Lynott, Visage, and charity supergroup Band Aid.
Pure, released 16 September 1991, is the third solo album by former Ultravox frontman Midge Ure. It was the first release by Ure with a new record label BMG-Arista. The first single "Cold Cold Heart" reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart in August 1991. "I See Hope in the Morning Light" and "Let It Go?" were also released as singles. The album has a blend of ethnic rhythms and clean album-oriented rock pop, pervaded by catchy hooks.
Fragile, released on 7 July 2014, is the sixth solo album by former Ultravox frontman Midge Ure.