"Living on the Ceiling" is a song by English

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

band

Blancmange Blancmange (, from french: blanc-manger ) is a sweet dessert popular throughout Europe commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with rice flour, gelatin, corn starch, or Irish moss (a source of carrageenan), and often flavoured with ...

. It was released as the band's third single in 1982, taken from their debut studio album ''

Happy Families Happy Families is a traditional British card game usually with a specially made set of picture cards, featuring illustrations of fictional families of four, most often based on occupation types. The object of the game is to collect complete fami ...

''. It became the band's first (and biggest) UK Top 40 hit, peaking at No. 7 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 ...

and being certified Silver by the BPI for sales in excess of 200,000 copies. The single also reached No. 5 on the

Australian Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. Blancmange performed the song 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 ...

'', but for broadcast on the show as well as on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

, the track was edited to replace the lyric "Up the bloody tree" with "Up the cuckoo tree". However, in a subsequent episode of ''

'' where the song was used as the 'play-out track' without the band in the studio, the original "bloody" lyric was left in and was clearly audible.

Style

Reporting a 2011 interview with lead singer Neil Arthur,

Sarah Nixey Sarah Anne Nixey (born 21 December 1973 in Dorset, England) is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the vocalist in Black Box Recorder. Her debut solo album, '' Sing, Memory'', was released on 19 February 2007, followed by ''Brave Tin Sol ...

suggested that ".. it was the Indian influences of

Pandit Dinesh Pandit Dinesh (born 29 May 1955) is a music composer and percussionist specializing in Indian rhythms. He uses the tabla, conga drums, and more. Dinesh is known for his collaborations with West India Company, Dizrhythmia, The Pax Trio, and Blanc ...

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

s and Deepak Khazauchi on

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

who had both given "Living on the Ceiling" its alluring flavour" describing the single as "

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

ern tinged". Of the album from which it was drawn Nixey wrote: "Fusing the rhythmic dash of

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

with the intensity of

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...

plus the melodic framework of OMD and Yazoo on top, Arthur and Luscombe won critical admiration and respectable sales for their debut."

Music video

The promotional video, made to accompany the song, was set in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, Egypt and was directed by Clive Richardson.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{authority control 1982 songs 1982 singles Blancmange (band) songs London Records singles Songs written by Neil Arthur Songs written by Stephen Luscombe Song recordings produced by Mike Howlett