Summary
"Promised You a Miracle" is a 1982 song by Scottish band Simple Minds and was released as the first single from their fifth studio album New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84). It was the band's first chart hit in the UK,[4] reaching #13 in the UK Singles Chart and charting for 11 weeks.[5] Their previous nine UK singles yielded no Top 40 hits in that country[6] although some had sold well in Scotland.
| "Promised You a Miracle" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Simple Minds | ||||
| from the album New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84) | ||||
| B-side | "Theme for Great Cities" | |||
| Released | 2 April 1982 | |||
| Recorded | 12–14 February 1982[1][2] | |||
| Studio | The Town House, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:59 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill, Derek Forbes and Mick MacNeil | |||
| Producer(s) | Peter Walsh | |||
| Simple Minds singles chronology | ||||
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It was the only song on the album that included Kenny Hyslop as the studio session drummer.[7] Mike Ogletree and Mel Gaynor contributed for the other eight tracks.
The song triggered a prolonged period of commercial success for the band, during which they yielded 21 original UK hit singles in a row, up to and including 1998's "Glitterball" from the album Neapolis.[8][9] It also enabled them to make their debut on the British music television show Top of the Pops.[10][11]
The music video, directed by Steve Barron,[12] features the band members playing amidst colour television imagery, interspersed with an uncredited female model passing through an airport X-ray and sunbathing.
A live version from the album Live in the City of Light was released in 1987. The video was a simulated live performance filmed in London's east end. Directed by John Scarlett-Davis and produced by Nick Verden.
Style edit
"Promised You a Miracle" is a dance track which is driven by a combination of "deep electronic beats"[13] from the keyboards of Mick MacNeil and a "deft hook line and riff"[4] courtesy of Charlie Burchill's guitar play. The song was inspired by a funk band that drummer Kenny Hyslop had recorded from an American radio station on a tape. The band got fascinated by a brass riff they heard and worked on the idea that eventually became the riff on "Promised You a Miracle", and, inspired to summon up the positive feel of the music, Jim Kerr wrote the lyrics to the song.[14] It was considered by Jim Kerr to be the first "pure pop" song written by the band, as their first attempt to craft a song specifically for radio listeners.[14] The song is considered to be a bridging point between the atmospheric and "echo-laden"[15] New wave sound of Sons and Fascination and the stadium pop-rock of the band's later years, due to the clean, crisp production of the band's new producer Peter Walsh, which Allmusic notes gives it a "brash pop edge".[16]
Release edit
"Promised You a Miracle" was released as a single in April 1982 during the second leg of the band's "Sons and Fascination Tour" were the song was performed live. As the band at that point had not recorded any other new material, the instrumental track "Theme for Great Cities" was lifted from their 1981 album Sister Feelings Call as the b-side of the single. The 12" release also featured an instrumental remix of "Seeing Out the Angel" from the Sons and Fascination album. The cover, designed by Malcolm Garrett, featured a still from the "Sweat in Bullet" video.[14]
Critical reception edit
"Promised You a Miracle" has been praised by many critics as one of Simple Minds' strongest songs. Cash Box called it "a cute attempt by this English outfit to boogie with the best of them."[17] Dave Thompson of Allmusic noted its "funky bass line", "bright melody", and "splashy keyboard hook".[18] Dave Simpson in The Guardian referred to the song as a "showcase of early-80s optimism" with a "wistful edge".[19] A feature in a 2002 edition of Uncut by David Stubbs said: "What's so great about this track, and indeed 'Big Sleep', isn't just its combination of stinging riff with delicate mosaic musical colouring, but its subtle rhythmical patterns, which are a feature of the whole album".[20] A later Uncut review described the song as a "teetering moment of pop promise they could never surpass".[21]
Chart performance edit
Weekly charts edit
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