"Food for Thought" | ||||
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Single by UB40 | ||||
from the album Signing Off | ||||
A-side | "King" | |||
Released | 1 February 1980 | |||
Recorded | 21–24 December 1979 [1] | |||
Studio | Bob Lamb's "Home of the Hits", Moseley, Birmingham | |||
Genre | Reggae | |||
Length | 4:10 | |||
Label | Graduate | |||
Songwriter(s) | UB40 | |||
Producer(s) |
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UB40 singles chronology | ||||
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Official video | ||||
"Food for Thought" on YouTube |
"Food for Thought" is a song by British reggae band UB40, released as their debut single in February 1980 from their album Signing Off . Released as a double A-side with "King", it peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart. [2]
The inspiration for "Food for Thought" is said to have come from the genocide in Cambodia, then known as Kampuchea, undertaken by members of the ruling Communist Party, known as the Khmer Rouge, whose totalitarian government saw between 1.5 and 3 million people killed between 1975 and 1979. [3] [4] The song's lyrics were written by Robin Campbell with help from his father, folksinger Ian Campbell, and relate to "the hypocrisy of Christmas, the fact that there are starving people in Africa and here we are all sat around eating our Christmas dinner and praising the Lord". [5] [6] After having written the lyrics, Campbell brought them to the rest of the band who then together worked on the music. [5] The song was originally called "The Christmas Song", before one of the roadies suggested "Food for Thought" would be a better title. [7]
As the band could not afford to record in a studio, the whole of the Signing Off album was recorded at producer Bob Lamb's own home, a bedsit in Moseley which later became known as the "Home of the Hits". [8] The album was recorded over three separate sessions, with this single being recorded in the first session between 21 and 24 December 1979. [9]
Prior to recording the song, the band had a debate over the subtlety of the lyrics, with Campbell since regretting the ambiguity of them, saying "I find it incredible that people can’t understand it and that upsets me. I think the symbolism’s quite obvious". This is perhaps aggravated by the fact that the opening lyric "Ivory Madonna" has often been misheard as "I'm a prima donna" or "I believe in Donna", which Campbell has found amusing but also concerning over how the song's message has been lost on many people. [3] [10]
"Food for Thought" was released as a double A-side single with "King" on local independent label Graduate Records. [upper-alpha 1] The single lists "King" as the first A-side and Bob Lamb has explained that "Food for Thought" was originally the B-side and that "King" "was always gonna be the main song". However, "Food for Thought" was picked up by radio disc jockeys and therefore gained more airplay than "King" because "it was quicker and chirpier, more dancey, more of a radio track". [7]
The original single version of "Food for Thought" is slightly shorter compared to the Signing Off album version, with the album version including a break using a synthesiser reverb (an early example of their mixing techniques that can be found on their remix album Present Arms in Dub ).
Released at the beginning of February 1980, the single entered the UK Singles Chart a month later in the first week of March and reached it peak of number four six weeks later in the second week of April. [2] It became the first single to make the top ten without the backing of a major record company. [12] The single performed even better in New Zealand where it topped the charts for four weeks and became the first hit there on an English independent label. [13] [14]
Chart (1980) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report) [15] | 36 |
Ireland (IRMA) [16] | 10 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [17] | 46 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [13] | 1 |
UK Singles (OCC) [2] | 4 |
UK Independent Singles (Record Business) [18] | 1 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
New Zealand (RMNZ) [19] | Gold | 10,000* |
United Kingdom (BPI) [20] | Silver | 250,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
"Food for Thought" | ||||
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Single by UB40 | ||||
from the album UB40 Live | ||||
B-side | "The Piper Calls the Tune" | |||
Released | April 1983 | |||
Recorded | February 1982, Ireland | |||
Genre | Reggae | |||
Length | 4:40 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | UB40 | |||
Producer(s) |
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UB40 singles chronology | ||||
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Whilst on tour in Ireland in February 1982, UB40 recorded their first live album, UB40 Live , which would be released a year later in February 1983. To promote the release of the live album, the live version of "Food for Thought" was released as a single in several European countries. Both the album and the single performed particularly well in the Netherlands, charting in the top five of their respective charts. [21]
Whilst this single was not released in the UK, the live version of "Food for Thought" was released as the B-side to "Many Rivers to Cross" in November 1983 as the third single from their fourth studio album Labour of Love . [22]
Chart (1983) | Peak position |
---|---|
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) [23] | 20 |
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) [24] | 4 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [21] | 5 |
UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984 were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group. UB40 have sold more than 70 million records worldwide. The ethnic make-up of the band's original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Welsh, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish, and Yemeni parentage.
Signing Off is the debut album by British reggae band UB40, released in the UK on 29 August 1980 by Dudley-based independent label Graduate Records. It was an immediate success in their home country, reaching number 2 on the UK albums chart, and made UB40 one of the many popular reggae bands in Britain, several years before the band found international fame. The politically-concerned lyrics struck a chord in a country with widespread public divisions over high unemployment, the policies of the recently elected Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher, and the rise of the racist National Front party, while the record's dub-influenced rhythms reflected the late 1970s influence in British pop music of West Indian music introduced by immigrants from the Caribbean after the Second World War, particularly reggae and ska – this was typified by the 2 Tone movement, at that point at the height of its success and led by fellow West Midlands act The Specials, with whom UB40 drew comparisons due to their multiracial band line-up and socialist views.
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