"You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties" is a song by English singer-songwriter

Jona Lewie Jona Lewie (born John Lewis, 14 March 1947) is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his 1980 UK hits " You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties" and " Stop the Cavalry". Career Lewie was born on 14 Marc ...

. It was written by Lewie and

Keef Trouble Keef Trouble (born Keith Trussell, 1949, Greenwich, London) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Career Trouble studied at The Slade School of Fine Art, London, from 1968 to 1972. He is a founding member of British country music, cou ...

, and was released as a single in 1980. The song entered 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 ...

in May, reaching number 16 and staying for 11 weeks on the chart. The song experienced the greatest success in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, where it reached No. 3 in October for two weeks, remaining in the top 40 for 17 weeks. Lewie added a new storyline ending to Trouble's lyrics. He wrote the melody on a multi-timbre

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

Polymoog The Polymoog is a hybrid polyphony (instrument), polyphonic analog synthesizer that was manufactured by Moog Music from 1975 to 1980. The Polymoog was based on Frequency divider, divide-down oscillator technology similar to electronic organs an ...

in his home eight-track studio, and played on and recorded the backing track entirely himself, apart from

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

from

Norman Watt-Roy Norman Joseph Watt-Roy (born 15 February 1951) is an English musician, arranger and composer. Watt-Roy's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the late 1970s, during the punk and new wave era of rock music as the bass ...

and additional

hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

from Bob Andrews. It has been claimed that the female

backing vocal A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

is by

Kirsty MacColl Kirsty Anna MacColl (10 October 1959 – 18 December 2000) was a British singer and songwriter, daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl. She recorded several pop hits in the 1980s and 1990s, including "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He ...

, but Lewie has confirmed that during the recording of the song they were done by the wives of producer Andrews and Dave Robinson, the owner of

Stiff Records Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London, England, by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007. Established at the outset of the punk rock boom, Stiff ...

. MacColl did however appear as a backing vocalist during live performances. In 2010, the track was used to advertise kitchens for

IKEA IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been t ...

. The advert, the full version of which ran to three minutes, features the group Man Like Me walking around a party in a house comprising only kitchens while singing a new version of the song. Lewie himself appeared as the host of the party. The song returned to the UK Singles Chart in 2010 reaching number 71.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1980 songs 1980 singles Jona Lewie songs British synth-pop songs Songs written by Jona Lewie Stiff Records singles Songs about parties