"The Lebanon" is a song by the British

synthpop 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 a ...

group

the Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

, released as a single in April 1984. Written jointly by lead singer

Philip Oakey Philip Oakey (born 2 October 1955) is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer, songwriter, and cofounder of British synth-pop band the Human League. Aside from the Human League, Oakey has enjoyed an e ...

and keyboard player and guitarist

Jo Callis John William "Jo" Callis (born 2 May 1951) is an English musician and songwriter who played guitar with the Edinburgh based punk rock band The Rezillos (under the name Luke Warm), and post-punk band Boots for Dancing before joining The Human ...

, it was the first single from the band's fourth album ''

Hysteria Hysteria is a term used colloquially to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that ...

''. It was recorded at

AIR Studios Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producer Sir George Martin and his business partner John Burgess, after their departure from Parlophone. The studio complex was founded ...

in 1983-84.

Background

The song was conceived, written and recorded at a time when the band were under considerable pressure to provide

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

with a follow up album to equal the enormous international success of ''

Dare Dare may refer to: Places * Dare, East Timor, a city * Darè, Italy, a commune * Dare County, North Carolina, United States * Dare, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community Name * Dare (name), a list of people and fictional c ...

''. The band was recording in the £1,000-per-day

, where they remained for a full year, frequently arguing with each other.Human League Biography - www.League-online.com/Bio The lyrics were a statement on the

Lebanese civil war The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

, which had been exacerbated by the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in 1982. In a television interview, band member

Philip Adrian Wright Philip Adrian Wright (born 30 June 1956) is an English musician, also known as Adrian Wright. Wright had studied film making at Sheffield Art College and was a friend of Philip Oakey. In 1978, he was invited to join the new avant-garde electr ...

commented that Oakey's lyrics were written specifically about the

Sabra and Shatila massacre The Sabra and Shatila massacre (also known as the Sabra and Chatila massacre) was the killing of between 460 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, by the militia of the Lebanese Forces, a Maronite Christian Lebanes ...

. Singer

Susan Ann Sulley Susan Ann Sulley (born 22 March 1963), formerly known as Susanne Sulley and Susan Ann Gayle, is an English singer who is one of the two female vocalists in the synth-pop band The Human League. Born and raised in Sheffield, England, as a schoo ...

said that the band "wanted to speak up for the little people" and say something meaningful about the situation in Lebanon. The band were criticised as banal and "out of their depth," but in a retrospective review,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

journalist Andy Kellman wrote that the song "looks atrocious on paper but sounds fantastic." "The Lebanon" was released as a single in the UK in April 1984. It failed to replicate the success of the band's previous singles "

(Keep Feeling) Fascination "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" is a song by British synthpop group the Human League. It was composed by Jo Callis and Philip Oakey, and produced by Martin Rushent (which would be the last song he produced for the band for seven years). The song ...

" and " Mirror Man", only reaching #11 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 #64 on the ''

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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 ...

, becoming the band's lowest-charting single in the U.S. The track is frequently played by the band live.

Promotional video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song was filmed in the Theatre Royal,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in March 1984. The video appears to be filmed at a Human League concert with the band playing live on stage, but the concert was staged and the band mimed to the music. The audience were invited extras and dancers placed in the front of the stage.

Track listing

; 7-inch vinyl (Virgin VS 672) # "The Lebanon" – 3:45 # "Thirteen" – 4:10 ; 12-inch vinyl (Virgin VS 672-12) # "The Lebanon" – 5:52 # "Thirteen" – 5:00 # "The Lebanon (Instrumental)" – 5:07

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lebanon, The 1984 singles Anti-war songs Songs about Lebanon The Human League songs Song recordings produced by Chris Thomas (record producer) Song recordings produced by Hugh Padgham Songs written by Jo Callis Songs written by Philip Oakey 1984 songs Virgin Records singles