"Victims of the Riddle" is a song by the English new wave band Toyah, fronted by Toyah Willcox, released as the band's debut single in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

by Safari Records. The song later featured on the band's album '' Sheep Farming in Barnet''.

Background

The song was written by Toyah Willcox,

Keith Hale Keith Hale (born 6 November 1950) is an English songwriter, composer, record producer, performer and music teacher, most notable for his work with Toyah Willcox, Hawkwind and Ginger Baker. Biography The Yorkshire-born musician moved south when ...

, Steve James,

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 ...

and Peter Bush, and produced by James and Hale. Willcox has hinted that there was some friction within the band over the authorship, implying that even though she composed the music, it was eventually credited to another member of the band after he, out of jealousy, had threatened to leave the band. The song was recorded at the Chappell Studios in London and started as an experiment in which Willcox used her voice as an instrument. Her 20-minute vocal improvisation was then edited down to accommodate a shorter song length. The track incorporated synthesizer music which at that time was becoming more and more prominent. Releasing "Victims of the Riddle" as the band's first single was the vocalist's choice. "I wanted to be as weird and far away from the mainstream as possible. In fact, being weird was my priority. (...) Subject wise he song isstill just as off the wall and interesting", Willcox remarked in 2011. The single courted controversy due to its intentionally disturbing front cover image — a photograph of one of the

mummies of Guanajuato The Mummies of Guanajuato are a number of naturally mummified bodies interred during a cholera outbreak around Guanajuato, Mexico in 1833. The human bodies appear to have been disinterred between 1870 and 1958. During that time, a local tax w ...

in Mexico (from a book by Ray Bradbury entitled ''

The Mummies of Guanajuato ''The Mummies of Guanajuato'' is a 1978 book which reprints Ray Bradbury's novelette, "The Next in Line", illustrated with photographs, by Archie Lieberman, of the actual mummies A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and ...

''), holding a note which asked "Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? Do both exist? Who can tell?". This was drawn over the original inscription, which bore the name of the actual mummy — Magdalena Aguilar, and her date of burial which was 8 September 1897. Her mummified body was exhumed on 27 December 1909. '' NME'' gave the song a mixed review, describing it as " gry and powerful, (...) riotously and genuinely performed. But painful and disappointing too, after all the pre-release build up". The song and its B-side, "Victims of the Riddle (Vivisection)", were later included on the band's first album, '' Sheep Farming in Barnet''. They also featured on the 2005 compilation album ''The Safari Singles Collection Part 1: 1979–1981''.

Track listing

*7" single :A. "Victims of the Riddle" ( Toyah Willcox,

, Steve James,

, Peter Bush) – 3:38 :B. "Victims of the Riddle (Vivisection)" (Willcox, Hale, James, Bogen, Bush) – 3:57 Side A ran at 45 rpm, while the lengthier side B ran at 33 rpm.

Personnel

* Toyah Willcox – vocals *

– guitar * Mark Henry – bass * Steve Bray – drums * Peter Bush – keyboards

Charts

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
at Genius
Official audio stream
on YouTube
The official Toyah website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Victims Of The Riddle 1979 debut singles 1979 songs Toyah (band) songs Songs written by Toyah Willcox Songs written by Joel Bogen Safari Records singles