"Quiet Life" is a song by the British new wave band

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is the title track of their 1979 album ''

Quiet Life ''Quiet Life'' is the third studio album by English new wave band Japan, first released on 17 November 1979 in Canada by record label Hansa (it would be released in the UK some weeks later). The album was a transition from the glam rock-influ ...

''. The lyrics to the song refer to the problems the band was going through at the time. They had lost their US record contract and

Hansa Records Hansa Records (also known as Hansa, Hansa Musik Produktion or Hansa International) was a record label founded in the 1960s based in Berlin, Germany. Profile The label's most successful act commercially was the German-based band Boney M. with mil ...

had been pressuring them for a

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

in the UK. "Quiet Life" was first released as a single in Japan in December 1979 with the B-side "Halloween". In March 1980, it was released in Germany and the Netherlands with the B-side " Second That Emotion", whereas in the UK "Quiet Life" was released as the B-side of the unsuccessful "Second That Emotion". Following the commercial success of the band's 1981 album '' Tin Drum'', Hansa Records reissued the song as a single that year to promote the band's upcoming compilation album '' Assemblage''. It became a top 20 hit 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 ...

, peaking at number 19 in October 1981 for 2 weeks.

Track listings

7": Ariola / AHA 1013 (1979, Japan) #"Quiet Life" – 4:14 #"Halloween" – 4:24 7": Hansa (1980, Germany and the Netherlands) #"Quiet Life" – 3:51 #" Second That Emotion" – 3:46 7" B-side: Ariola / AHA 559 (1980, UK) # "Second That Emotion" – 3:46 # "Quiet Life" – 3:51 7": Hansa / HANSA 6 (1981, UK) #"Quiet Life" – 3:34 #"A Foreign Place" – 3:11 12" Hansa / HANSA 12-6 (1981, UK) #"Quiet Life" (Extended Version) – 4:50 #"A Foreign Place" – 3:11 #"Fall in Love With Me" – 4:30

Charts

References

{{Japan (band) 1979 songs 1979 singles 1980 singles 1981 singles Japan (band) songs Songs written by David Sylvian