| "Diamond Smiles" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by The Boomtown Rats | ||||
| from the album The Fine Art of Surfacing | ||||
| B-side | "Late Last Night" | |||
| Released | 9 November 1979 [1] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:54 | |||
| Label |
Ensign Records (UK) Columbia Records (USA) | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Bob Geldof | |||
| The Boomtown Rats singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Diamond Smiles" was the second single from The Boomtown Rats' album The Fine Art of Surfacing. It was the follow-up to their successful single " I Don't Like Mondays" and peaked at Number 13 in the UK Charts. The band has suggested that it might have fared better had it not been for a strike of lighting technicians on the powerful UK TV programme Top of The Pops at the time that the record was released and rising in the charts. [3]
Dealing with death, as had "I Don't Like Mondays", the song tells the story of a glamorous debutante ('Diamond') who commits suicide and is remembered only for her low-cut dress. [4] Some of the staff of Duke Street Hospital, in Glasgow, filed a petition with the IBA and the BBC demanding that the song be banned due to the lyrics exploiting a real-life suicide. [5]
The song also featured as one of four songs on an Australian EP called Surface Down Under that also featured past hits " Rat Trap", " Looking After No.1" and " Like Clockwork". [3]
The song was covered by Jay Bennett (of Wilco) on his posthumous album Kicking at the Perfumed Air, with the album's title also being derived from the song's lyrics. [6]
Reception
In a review of the album The Fine Art of Surfacing, critic Mike DeGagne said "'Diamond Smiles' jaunts along on a hiccup-like rhythm". [7]
Smash Hits said, "It's puzzling that The Rats should have chosen this rather lifeless tale of high-society suicide as the follow up to " Mondays". It's tougher and more compact than their recent singles but I thought they'd have put aside the subject of violent death for a while." [8]
References
- ^ "Boomtown Rats singles".
- ^ "The Fine Art of Surfacingby the Boomtown Rats – Classic Rock Review". 23 December 2014.
- ^ a b "The Boomtown Rats Discography". boomtownrats.co.uk. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- ^ "Diamond Smiles lyrics". bobgeldof.com. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- ^ Hildrey, Mike (22 Oct 1979). "Gutter Rats". Evening Times. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- ^ Thompson, Paul (20 July 2010). "Jay Bennett - Kicking at the Perfumed Air". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- ^ DeGagne, Mike. The Boomtown Rats - The Fine Art of Surfacing at AllMusic. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- ^ David Hepworth (14 November 1979). "Singles". Smash Hits. No. 25.
