Stephen ‘Tintin’ Duffy – “Icing On The Cake”

In 1979, two students from the School of Foundation Studies & Experimental Workshop at Birmingham Polytechnic got together with a friend to form a three-piece band. They were inspired by the New Romantic movement, and in the turbulent early years they underwent a number of line-up changes before signing their first record deal with EMI in 1980. The band, Duran Duran, went on to become bigger than The Beatles – literally, there were five of them in Duran Duran.

One of these early casualties was the lead singer, Stephen Duffy. After leaving Duran Duran Duffy formed a group called Obviously Five Believers, who also performed under the name The Hawks, but it was as a solo artist that he first found fame.

After a number of false starts, Duffy released a re-recorded version of “Kiss Me” (as Stephen ‘Tintin’ Duffy) in February 1985. It reached number 4 in the charts and sold 250,000 copies in three weeks. Trivia fans might like to know that “Kiss Me” was the last record that Radio 1 played on their medium-wave service, before becoming an FM only station.

“Kiss Me” came from the album The Ups and Downs, which (according to Wikipedia) was produced by Duffy, Booker T. Jones (from Booker T. and the MGs), J. J. Jeczalik(who was a founder member of The Art of Noise), and Stephen Street, who produced a lot of songs for The Smiths, Blur, The Cranberries, and Morrissey.

The video that I’m showing here is the last track released from The Ups and Downs. It was released in June 1985 and reached number 14 in the charts, and is called “Icing On The Cake”:

These are the lyrics:

Baby let me make you a statue
To stand outside the council house
To stand as a reminder of what you are
And what you want to be

I want to live with you
Want to sleep with you
In a house
In a peaceful world
They want to take you
They want to break you
Don’t let them make you unhappy

You are the icing on the cake
The party on the street
The love you cannot fake
The truth you cannot cheat

Cheat

You were left on the doorstep
Of the Social Security
You were hoping for a future
As someone not just a leisure refugee
I always saw you as a fighter and a winner
Not content to only write your name
Their right way is the wrong way
For what you are and what you were born to be

Born to be young and free
To be young and wise
Not to listen to all their lies
Don’t let them take you
Don’t let them break you
Don’t let them make you unhappy

You are the icing on the cake
The party on the street
The love you cannot fake
The truth you cannot cheat

Cheat

Cheat

What’s wrong with that
It’s the icing
(Icing on the cake)
(Party on the street)
Is it love
(Love you cannot fake)
It’s the truth
(Truth you cannot cheat)

Here we come waltzing home
By the moon so bright
By the sea by the harbour wall
They want to take you
They want to break you
Shape you and make you unhappy

You are the icing on the cake
The party on the street
The love you cannot fake
The truth you cannot cheat
The icing on the cake
The party on the street
The love you cannot fake
The truth you cannot cheat
The icing on the cake
The party on the street
The love you cannot fake
The truth you cannot cheat

If you want to know more about Stephen Duffy and The Lilac Time, you should visit the fantastic Duffypedia: http://www.duffypedia.com/home.html

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