"Living on the Ceiling"
Single by Blancmange
from the album Happy Families and Happy Families Too...
B-side
  • "Running Thin"
  • "I Would" (12" only)
Released15 October 1982
Genre
Length4:02
LabelLondon
Songwriter(s)
  • Stephen Luscombe
  • Neil Arthur
Producer(s)Mike Howlett
Blancmange singles chronology
"Feel Me"
(1982)		 "'Living on the Ceiling'"
(1982)		 "Waves"
(1983)
Music video
"Living on the Ceiling" on YouTube

"Living on the Ceiling" is a song by English synth-pop band Blancmange. It was released as the band's third single in 1982, taken from their debut studio album Happy Families. It became the band's first (and biggest) UK Top 40 hit, peaking at No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart[3] and being certified Silver by the BPI for sales in excess of 200,000 copies.[4] The single also reached No. 5 on the Australian Singles Chart.[5]

Blancmange performed the song on Top of the Pops, but for broadcast on the show as well as on BBC Radio, the track was edited to replace the lyric "Up the bloody tree" with "Up the cuckoo tree". However, in a subsequent episode of Top of the Pops where the song was used as the 'play-out track' without the band in the studio, the original "bloody" lyric was left in and was clearly audible.

The song was used in an episode of Limmy's Show in 2011, where Limmy looped the "up the bloody tree" lyric for comedic effect. In an interview with The Quietus in 2020, frontman Neil Arthur joked that Limmy's version was "better" than the original.[6]

Style

Reporting a 2011 interview with lead singer Neil Arthur, Sarah Nixey suggested that ".. it was the Indian influences of Pandit Dinesh on tablas and Deepak Khazauchi on sitar who had both given "Living on the Ceiling" its alluring flavour" describing the single as "Middle Eastern tinged". Of the album from which it was drawn Nixey wrote: "Fusing the rhythmic dash of Talking Heads with the intensity of Joy Division plus the melodic framework of OMD and Yazoo on top, Arthur and Luscombe won critical admiration and respectable sales for their debut."[7]

Music video

The promotional video, made to accompany the song, was set in Cairo, Egypt, and was directed by Clive Richardson.[8][9]

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1982–1983) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[10][5] 5
Ireland (IRMA)[11] 8
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[12] 41
South Africa (Springbok Radio)[13] 3
UK Singles (OCC)[3] 7
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[14] 52

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for "Living on the Ceiling"
Chart (1983) Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[10] 58

References

  1. ↑ Mason, Stewart. "Living on the Ceiling – Song Review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  2. ↑ Matheson, Whitney (24 April 2014). "My favorite '80s New Wave song is ..." USA Today. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  4. ↑ "Certified Awards". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  5. 1 2 "Hits of the World". Billboard. Vol. 95, no. 13. 26 March 1983. p. 59. ISSN 0006-2510.
  6. ↑ Hensey, Garry. "The Strange World Of... Blancmange". The Quietus. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  7. ↑ Nixey, Sarah. "BLANCMANGE Blanc Burn : An Interview with Neil Arthur". Electricity-club.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  8. ↑ Gallagher, Paul (2 August 2012). "The Very Best of Blancmange: The return of synth pop's Maiden Aunts". Dangerous Minds. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  9. ↑ Darling, Cary (18 December 1982). "Music Monitor". Billboard. Vol. 94, no. 50. p. 62. ISSN 0006-2510.
  10. 1 2 "Kent Music Report – National Top 100 Singles for 1983". Kent Music Report. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via Imgur.com.
  11. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Living on the Ceiling". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  12. ↑ "Blancmange – Living On The Ceiling". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  13. ↑ "South African Rock Lists Website SA Charts 1969 – 1989 Acts (B)". Rock.co.za. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  14. ↑ "Happy Families – Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
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