"New Song" is the debut single by musician Howard Jones, released in August 1983. The single reached number three 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 ...

, spending 20 weeks in the Top 75. On the UK seven-inch single, the song's

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

are printed in a spiral on the A-side label, with all the credits printed on the B-side. It was released in the US in early 1984, peaking at #27 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

chart. The track later appeared on Jones' debut album ''

Human's Lib ''Human's Lib'' is the debut album by the British pop musician Howard Jones. It was released in March 1984 and entered the UK Albums Chart at the no. 1 spot, spending a total of 57 weeks in the charts. The album has been certified double platin ...

''.

Background

Howard Jones said, "In 'New Song,' I wanted a song that was like my manifesto, like why I wanted to be in the business and why I wanted to write songs in the first place. I was working in the factory at the time - I was doing the gigs at night and I was working in the factory. And I wanted to say to people, 'You can. It is possible to do what you really want to do if you've got enough guts and determination. You can do what you're really good at in this life if you set your mind to it.' And so really that's what that song's about. It's about letting go of fear and seeing both sides of an argument and throwing off the things that hold you back mentally." The single's

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

was titled "Change the Man". The

twelve-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

featured an extended version of "New Song" together with "Change the Man" and the original studio version of "Conditioning", which would be re-recorded for ''Human's Lib''. "New Song" itself was later re-recorded for '' The 12" Album'', in a version denoted "New Version". This featured a lot of multi-layered piano, in contrast to the austere synthesizer sound of the original seven and twelve-inch versions. Equipment used for the song includes a

Roland Juno-60 The Roland Juno-60 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1982 and 1984. It followed the Juno-6, an almost identical synthesizer released months earlier. The Juno synthesizers introduced Roland's digitally control ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, Moog

Memorymoog The Memorymoog is a polyphonic electronic music synthesizer manufactured by Moog Music from 1982 to 1985, the last polyphonic synthesizer to be released by Moog Music before the company declared bankruptcy in 1987. While comparable to other polyph ...

synthesizer, and an

E-mu Drumulator E-mu Drumulator is a sample-based drum machine by E-mu Systems. Introduced in 1983 at a price of $995 USD, the Drumulator was the first programmable drum machine with built-in samples for under $1,000, resulting in sales of over 10,000 units over tw ...

drum machine. DJ

Mike Read Michael David Kenneth Read (born 1 March 1947) is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter. Read has been a broadcaster since 1976, best known for having been a DJ with BBC Radio 1, and television host for musi ...

refused to play "New Song", suggesting it was too similar to the song "Solsbury Hill" by

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

. When asked about the similarity in a 2011 interview, Jones denied using "Solsbury Hill" as inspiration:

Music video

The video opens at a pickle plant, where Jones's character works as a caretaker. As the owner arrives on the site, Howard strips off his uniform coveralls and begins to sing to his colleagues. One of them, a man wearing black/white theatrical makeup,

Mime artist A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a theatrical medium ...

and regular live/video collaborator Jed Hoile. removes his coveralls and begins to dance through the plant. As the boss begins to sweep the floor, Howard, the dancer, and several employees pile into his luxury car and drive away. Howard and the dancer next visit an Underground station (specifically

Holborn Station Holborn ( ) is a London Underground station in Holborn, Central London, located at the junction of High Holborn and Kingsway. It is served by the Central and Piccadilly lines. On the Central line the station is between Tottenham Court Road an ...

) to perform for the patrons, then visit a window cleaner and get him to take a break from his work. Finally, the two arrive at a school and interrupt a class of unruly students, who follow them outside to play on the grass, followed by their teacher.

Track listing

;7" vinyl (UK) #"New Song" (Jones) – 4:16 #"Change the Man" (Jones) – 4:30 ;7" vinyl (US) #"New Song" (Jones) – 4:16 #"Conditioning" (Jones/Bryant) – 4:02 ;12" vinyl #"New Song" (Extended Mix) (Jones) – 5:21 #"Change the Man" (Jones) – 4:30 #"Conditioning" (Jones/Bryant) – 4:55

Chart performance

References

External links

The official Howard Jones website discography
{{authority control 1983 debut singles 1984 singles Howard Jones (English musician) songs Songs written by Howard Jones (English musician) Song recordings produced by Colin Thurston 1983 songs