"Duchess" is a single by

The Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have origina ...

from the album ''

The Raven "The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a distraught lover who is paid a myste ...

''. The ninth track on the album, it peaked at number 14 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The supporting video for the song was banned by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, as they deemed it blasphemous for its content, which featured the band dressed up as choirboys.

Reception

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'' said, "Hugh Cornwell actually sings. Yeah, a bit shaky maybe, but it's proper singing. And the song's quite nice. But it's also repetitive and lacks any real substance."

Cover versions

* The song was covered by

My Life Story My Life Story are an English pop group formed in London, England, in 1993. The group's success peaked in the mid to late 1990s as part of the Britpop era. Fronted by singer/songwriter Jake Shillingford, the group inherited their name from an ear ...

as part of

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

's centenary celebrations in 1997 and reached the UK Top 40.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duchess (The Stranglers Song) The Stranglers songs 1979 singles Song recordings produced by Alan Winstanley Music videos directed by Russell Mulcahy 1979 songs Songs written by Dave Greenfield Songs written by Hugh Cornwell Songs written by Jet Black Songs written by Jean-Jacques Burnel