Today, 40 years ago, Siousxie And The Banshees released the single Swimming Horses (16.03.1984) which was taken from the band's sixth studio album Hyaena. The song was co-written by Steven Severin and Robert Smith (The Cure)

The 7" B-side featured Let’s Go while the 12" version also feartured a third song called The Humming Wires.

Upon release Siousxie explained to British music magazine Melody Maker what events inspired her to write this song:

“This song is based on a programme I saw about a female version of Amnesty, called 'Les Sentinelles'. They rescue women who are trapped in certain religious climates in the Middle East, religions that view any kind of pre-marital sexual aspersion as punishable by death – either by the hand of the eldest brother in the family, or by public stoning. And there was this instance of a woman whose daughter had developed a tumour, and, of course, gossip abounded that she was pregnant. The doctor who removed the tumour allowed her to take it back to the village to prove that, no, it wasn't a baby – but they wouldn't believe her. The woman knew her daughter would have to be stoned to death so she poisoned her, out of kindness, to save her from a worse fate. Now this organization has all these escape routes for women like her, mainly through the elder brother who pretends to have killed them. But once they've been saved, they can never go back. So the song starts, "Kinder than with poison..." I also used the imagery of "He gives birth to swimming horses", from the fact that male sea horses give birth to the children, so they're the only species that have a maternal feel for the young. It was, I suppose, an abstract way of linking it all together without being sensationalist. I remember just being really moved by that programme, and wanting to get the sorrow out of me.“

Swimming Horses - Lyrics

Falling in your, falling in your arms
Fish on a line, learns to live on dry land
Thrown back again to drown
Kinder with poison

Than pushed down a well - or a face burnt to hell
Feel the cruel stones breaking her bones
Dead before born
Words fall in ruins - but no sound

She's dying of your shame - she maimed by your paw
He gives birth to swimming horses

Fish on a line, walking on dry land
But, back in the water to drown we drown
Floating in sky

He gives birth to swimming horses
Take a ride on the tide with the assassin at your side
The weightlessness under water -- forgets in slow motion
And washes pointless tortures

He gives birth to swimming horses
Floating in sky like fishes can fly through your arms

Songwriters: Robert Smith / Siouxsie Sioux / Steven Severin

DISCOGS

On this day, 44 years ago, Fad Gadget released the non-album 7” single ‘Ricky's Hand’ (14 March 1980). It was recorded at the Blackwing Studios, London, on 19 January 1980 and became the second Fad Gadget single, following the debut Back to Nature 7” the previous year.

The track was originally not included on any studio album and predating a debut LP ‘Fireside Favorites’ by several months, but does appear on several later released compilations. Mute Records founder Daniel Miller collaborated on the writing, playing and production.

The song was a sardonic cautionary tale on the perils of drink driving: "From the pocket it pulled five pound / Ricky bought another round… Ricky contravened the highway code / The hand lies severed at the side of the road".

The music was in a predominantly industrial style with an insistent electronic beat. An electric drill was also listed among the instruments; it can be heard on the recording punctuating each mention of the song's title.

The B-side, ‘Handshake’, was an instrumental that essentially mixed up the sounds used on the A-side.

Ricky's Hand 7"
A Ricky's Hand 4:06
B Handshake 4:47

Below you can watch some unique footage of Fad Gadget performing Ricky’s Hand at the renowned Hacienda FACT51 club, Manchester, England, 1984 and a live version performed on his 2001 come-back tour.

Sadly an unique video document on which Fad Gadget can be seen singing Ricky's Hand, with his two live musicians at the time, Phil Wauquaire and Jean-Marc Lederman (The Weathermen), on the Belgian RTBF show Cargo De Nuit in 1980 has recently been removed from YouTube.

Instead we discovered another nice document of Ministry covering Ricky’s Hand back in 1984!

Enjoy!

On 14 March 1984 the English synth pop band Depeche Mode presented their brand new single ‘People Are People’ which was only released two days before (12 March 1984) on the German Top-pop TV show Flashlights.
Six weeks later the single reached the first place in the German single charts and stayed on this number one position for 3 weeks. In West Germany, it was used as the theme to West German TV's coverage of the 1984 Olympics, alluding to East Germany's participation in the Soviet-led boycott of the games.

The single was taken from the album ‘Some Great Reward’ which made it to the 3rd position in the German pop album charts. The album also became gold record with over 150,000 copies sold.

It also became their first hit-single in the US where the single would eventually peak at no. 13. In the UK, the single reached number 4, which was at the time the band's highest singles chart position in their homeland.

In 2011 the song was included on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll"

People are People (Lyrics)

People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
So we're different colours
And we're different creeds
And different people have different needs
It's obvious you hate me
Though I've done nothing wrong
I never even met you
So what could I have done

I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand

People are people so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
Help me understand
Now you're punching and you're kicking
And you're shouting at me
I'm relying on your common decency
So far it hasn't surfaced
But I'm sure it exists
It just takes a while to travel
From your head to your fist

I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand

Songwriter: Martin Gore
© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Today, 38 years ago, American Industrial band Ministry released their second studio album Twitch (12/03/1986). Unlike their synth-pop sounding debut album With Sympathy and due to the influences of bands like Front 242 and Cabaret Voltaire, Twitch received a more dark and aggressive production approach by Adrian Sherwoord and the bands head and voice Al Jourgensen.

Over The Shoulder, accompanied by a video directed by Peter Christopherson (Throbbing Gristle /Coil) was the only single taken from this album.

In 1990 Twitch was reissued on CD and contained two extra tracks, being the exclusive tracks on the Over The Shoulder 12” single until that time.

Tracklist Twitch:
1. Just Like You
2. We Believe
3. All Day Remix
4. The Angel
5. Over the Shoulder
6. My Possession
7. Where You at Now? / Crash & Burn / Twitch" (Version II)

CD bonus tracks
8. Over the Shoulder (12" Version)
9. Isle of Man" (Version II)

DISCOGS

On 12th March 1980, renowned long term BBC radio journalist and DJ John Peel (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004) played Joy Division's Dead Souls for the first time after he discovered the track as a B-side on the 7" Licht und Blindheit.

This single, with Atmosphere on the A-side, was released in 1980 as a France only and limited edition of 1,578 copies. The 7" came with a 3 page colour gatefold booklet with a translation, text written by Jean-Pierre Turmel, a painting by Jean-Francois Jamoul and a photograph by Anton Corbijn.