♫ True ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

As I was working on my ‘good people’ post late last night, this song kept going through my head.  Needless to say, I couldn’t remember the lyrics, but remembered a snippet … “I bought a ticket to the world …”, so Google helped me come up with the title and group.  AHA!  I thought.  One I haven’t featured here before!  But just to be sure, I checked the archives and … DAMN!  I played this one a couple of years ago.  But, as I listened to it, I found it does something to me … it brings a smile and a nice, happy feeling.  So, you get to hear it again!

True was composed by group leader Gary Kemp, who wrote the song at his parents’ house while living there. It is a song that in part pays tribute to the Motown artist Marvin Gaye, who is mentioned in the lyrics, and the sound he helped to establish. According to Kemp …

“I think I wanted to write a song that was a bit like a Marvin Gaye, Al Green song, a blue-eyed soul song. It was at a time when it was me concentrating on melody first rather than the sort of riff and the groove. ‘True’ became a song about writing a love song. Why ‘Why do I find it hard to write the next line? I want the truth to be said?’ Because I didn’t want to write it down—because there’s nothing more embarrassing.”

The song was partly about Kemp’s platonic relationship (and unrequited love) with Altered Images singer Clare Grogan …

“I was infatuated with Clare Grogan. I met her on Top of the Pops and, at one point, travelled up to Scotland to have tea with her and her mum and dad. Although my feelings were unrequited and the relationship was platonic, it was enough to trigger a song.”

Some phrases in the lyrics were adapted from the novel Lolita, a copy of which Clare Grogan had given Gary Kemp.

“The lyrics are full of coded messages to Clare.  I’m still berated for the line ‘Take your seaside arms’ but it’s straight out of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, which she had given me as a present – although in the book, it’s ‘seaside limbs.’ The line ‘With a thrill in my head and a pill on my tongue’ is also a bastardisation of Nabokov.”

Kemp did an interview with The Guardian back in 2014 that you might find interesting:  Spandau Ballet: We wanted to design the next decade’s pop culture

Released in 1983, this is the only song by the British group to make the top ten in the U.S.  It hit #1 in Canada, Ireland and the UK, and #4 in the U.S.

True
Spandau Ballet

So true, funny how it seems
Always in time, but never in line for dreams
Head over heels when toe to toe
This is the sound of my soul
This is the sound

I bought a ticket to the world
But now I’ve come back again
Why do I find it hard to write the next line?
I want the truth to be said

I, I-I-I, I
I know this much is true
I, I-I-I, I
I know this much is true

With a thrill in my head and a pill on my tongue
Dissolve the nerves that have just begun
Listening to Marvin (all night long)
This is the sound of my soul
This is the sound

Always slipping from my hands
Sand’s a time of its own
Take your seaside arms and write the next line
I want the truth to be known

I, I-I-I, I
I know this much is true
I, I-I-I, I
Ooh, I know this much is true, I know this much is true

I bought a ticket to the world
But now I’ve come back again
Why do I find it hard to write the next line?
I want the truth to be, I want the truth to be said

I, I-I-I, I
I know this much is true
I, I-I-I, I
Ooh, I know this much is true, I know this much is true

This much is true

This much is true
This much is true
This much is true
This much is true
This much is true
This much is true

I, I-I-I, I, I
Know this much is true
I, I-I-I, I, I
Know this much is true
This much is true
This much is true
I know, I know, I know this much is true

This much is true
This much is true
This much is true (I, I-I-I, I, I)
This much is true
I know this much is true

This much is true (I, I-I-I, I, I)
This much is true
Know this much is true
This much is true (I, I-I-I, I, I)
This much is true
Know this much is true
I know, I know, I know this much is true

This much is true (I, I-I-I, I, I)
This much is true
I know this much is true
This much is true

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Gary Kemp
True lyrics © Reformation Publishing Co Ltd

21 thoughts on “♫ True ♫ (Redux)”

  1. I liked their debut, To Cut A Long Story Short, even if they looked like a bunch of drunken Scots on a stag do, but never really took to them after that. To me, this is bland. But Gary Kemp was like most of the British male population at that time: we all had a crush on Clare Grogan!

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    • I don’t think I’ve ever heard that one! I figured you probably wouldn’t be crazy about this one, but I’m glad that at least it didn’t make you want to kick something! 😉 Ahhhh … all it takes is a pretty face, eh?

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      • I much prefer it to their ballads, it’s more up tempo.

        Clare was the lead singer of Altered Images. They had a string of hits here from 1981-3 but never did anything in your charts. Their biggies were Happy Birthday, I Could Be Happy, and Don’t Talk To Me About Love. She is also an actress, had a role in the charming movie Gregory’s Girl. And boy, was she cute!

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        • Until I did the research for this song, I had never heard of either her or the Altered Images. Heh heh … if she was that cute, she probably could have had the voice of Matilda and you’d have loved it! 😉

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          • Given that they had next to no success over there I’m not surprised you didn’t know of them. If you have a moment check out their video for Happy Birthday (it isn’t the Stevie Wonder song) and you’ll see why we all drooled over her.

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            • I did check it out … um … perhaps you have to be a guy to appreciate her appeal? I just wanted to sit her down and wipe that lipstick off of her!!! I think I will stick with Stevie’s birthday song! Oh, and I listened to Vic Reeves and the Wonder Stuff’s version of Dizzy … I have to admit it has more … um … noise than Tommy Roe’s, but it didn’t do much for me except perhaps stir up a bit of heartburn. Ah well, still … I heard some new things, expanded my horizons!

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              • Maybe. We just thought she was really cute. I’m with you – I didn’t like the Vic Reeves version either, though I was a fan of the Wonder Stuff and had a couple of their albums: they were good accompaniment on long drives.

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                  • Actually, Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik are both great for driving, as is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. My autocorrect isn’t used to me talking about classical music: I almost recommended Eine Kleenex Nachtmusik before I realised 🤣

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                    • Pastoral is my all-time favorite among the classics! But, not for driving! It relaxes me, takes my mind away to peaceful places, and then suddenly the LOUD HONKKKKKK of a tractor trailer into whose lane I have drifted wakes me from my revelry! Nope, I need the Beatles or Rolling Stones for a road trip! Ha ha … Eine Kleenex Nachtmusik would have make me laugh … DID make me laugh!

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                    • I sometimes listen to classical while I’m writing, trying to focus, and it works for that, but if my mind isn’t by necessity engaged, then I just … ♫Drift Away …

                      Yep, I do not trust autocorrect … one time, though, it did me a favour! It was back when John McCain (funny, that’s twice I’ve mentioned him in a comment to you tonight) was running for president against Obama, and his running mate was the ignoble Sarah Palin. I was texting to a friend something about her and autocorrect changed her name from ‘Palin’ to ‘Pain’, which I thought was perfectly appropriate and I left it just like that!

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    • So, had you heard this one before or was it new to you? I’m glad you liked it! Ha ha … a DJane … heck, I can’t remember song titles, lyrics or artists anymore! If it weren’t for Google, I couldn’t do my music posts! xx

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  5. Thanks for the info and backstory Jill.
    I always think of this song as the era when the band moved from the fancy dress style to suits.
    It shouldn’t have been my scene, but as my dear old dad used to say ‘But it’s good music,’

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