"Israel" is a song by British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released as a stand-alone single in 1980 by

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

. The track was written by Siouxsie and the Banshees and co-produced with Nigel Gray, it featured a 30 singer

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choir on backing vocals. While touring in Europe in autumn 1980, the band wanted to write a Christmas song to be released on time for December of that year. They composed it on the road, which was quite unusual for them. The song became a favourite of several artists including

Air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...

's composer

Jean-Benoît Dunckel Jean-Benoît Dunckel (born 7 September 1969) is a French musician best known for being one half of the French music duo Air, along with Nicolas Godin. In the 1980s, he formed the band Orange with Alex Gopher, Xavier Jamaux and Jean de Reydellet ...

who selected as one of his 10 all-time favourite songs, and the band

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who selected it as a song of their intro tape during their tours, and producer Howie B. (a frequent collaborator of Björk and Tricky in the 1990s) who included it in a list of songs, representing the music he listened to when he grew up in Glasgow.

Release

"Israel" was released as a stand-alone single in between the albums ''

Kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a regular symmetrical pattern when v ...

'' (1980) and '' Juju'' (1981) on 28 November 1980 by record label

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States ...

. It peaked at No. 41 on 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 ...

. It was the band's first single to be also released on a 12-inch although the track lengths on both sides of the 12-inch edition were the same as on the 7-inch. Although it reached No. 73 on the US National Disco Action Top 100 chart as an import, "Israel" did not appear on a Siouxsie and the Banshees album until the release of the ''

Once Upon a Time/The Singles ''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 Bansh ...

'' compilation the following year, although some copies of the US release of ''Juju'' on PVC Records included a free copy of this single. The song was remastered in 2002 for the compilation CD ''

The Best of Siouxsie and the Banshees 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 or ...

'' and was also featured as a bonus track on the 2006 ''Kaleidoscope'' reissue.

Cover version

"Israel" was later covered by

Nouvelle Vague French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...

on their 2006 album '' Bande à Part''.

Track listing

Charts

References

{{authority control 1980 singles 1980 songs Polydor Records singles Siouxsie and the Banshees songs Songs written by Budgie (musician) Songs written by John McGeoch Songs written by Siouxsie Sioux Songs written by Steven Severin Songs about Israel