"It's a Mystery" is a song by English new wave band Toyah, fronted by

Toyah Willcox Toyah Ann Willcox (born 18 May 1958) is an English musician, actress, and TV presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Willcox has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 stage plays an ...

, released as a single in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

Safari Records Safari Records was a British independent record label based in London, England, and operating between 1977 and 1985. Safari Records was formed early in 1977 by Tony Edwards (former co-manager of Deep Purple), Andreas Budde (the son of German musi ...

. The song was a hit in the UK where it peaked in the Top 5 in the charts as the lead track on the EP '' Four from Toyah''.

Background

The song was originally written by Keith Hale for the band Blood Donor, but the record company

Safari A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an importa ...

wanted Toyah to record it. Although

wrote the lyrics of the second verse, she is officially not credited as a co-writer of the song and does not receive

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...

for it. In its original form, the track had a 12-minute vocal part and a 28-minute instrumental, but was subsequently given a shorter, more radio-friendly

song structure Song structure is the arrangement of a song, and is a part of the songwriting process. It is typically sectional, which uses repeating forms in songs. Common forms include bar form, 32-bar form, verse–chorus form, ternary form, strophic form, and ...

. Initially, Willcox had some reservations about recording the song: "I was slightly against it because it was very feminine, (...) it was vulnerable, it was everything I didn't want to show about myself". She worried that it did not suit her punk rock image and that its mainstream sound might confuse her fanbase. She said: "I had an army of followers and I just knew that this song wasn't for them". In 2011, the singer reflected that the song "was never a favourite of mine but it has given me 30 years in the business, on many levels, as a singer, actress and writer. If I'd just stuck with the indie sound I'd probably never have surfaced above cult popularity". In the UK, "It's a Mystery" was first available only as the lead song on the 4-track 7" EP '' Four from Toyah'', released in February 1981, which peaked at number 4 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 ...

in March 1981. It would give the band their first appearance on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

''. Despite being Toyah's biggest hit to date, "It's a Mystery" is not officially listed as a chart hit under its actual title, which Toyah has been unsuccessfully trying to rectify. In some territories, however, the song was released as a separate single to promote ''

Anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...

''. "It's a Mystery" has been re-recorded by Toyah a number of times in her later career: in 1993 on the album '' Take the Leap!'', on '' Looking Back'' in 1995, and twice on '' The Acoustic Album'', again in 1995.

Track listing

* 7" single :A. "It's a Mystery" ( Keith Hale) – 4:13 :B. "War Boys" (

) – 3:37 * 7" single (Australia) :A. "It's a Mystery" (Hale) :B. "Elocution Lesson" (Willcox,

Joel Bogen Joel Bogen (born 3 September 1958) is an English rock and punk guitarist. He worked with Toyah Willcox from the late 1970s to 1983 as the guitar player in her eponymous band and was the co-writer on nearly all of the material they recorded. B ...

)

Personnel

– vocals *

– guitar *

Phil Spalding Philip Spalding (born 19 November 1957, London, England) is an English bass player. He is best known as a session musician and player of Fender Precision Bass guitars. He has played and appeared with performing artists such as Mick Jagger, Sea ...

– bass *

Nigel Glockler Nigel Glockler (born 24 January 1953) is an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer for the heavy metal band Saxon, which he first joined in 1981. Career Glockler began his musical career in 1980 as the drummer for the British band ...

– drums *

Adrian Lee Adrian Lee (born 9 September 1957, London, England) is an English musician, known especially for his brass instrumentation work with several well-known acts of the 1980s. Career Lee was first signed to Phonogram Records in the late 1970s as g ...

– keyboards

References

External links

Official audio stream
at

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

The official Toyah website
{{authority control 1981 singles 1981 songs Toyah (band) songs Safari Records singles Songs written by Toyah Willcox