The Man with the Golden Arm

Elmer Bernstein wrote the theme for the 1956 film The Man with the Golden Arm. Adamson reinvented it as his first solo single in 1988. He told The Quietus that the plan was a publishing deal with Mute, because he wanted to do cinema music, and that he wanted to start with a homage to something in cinema. He had bought a new sampler that could record sounds and also held strings and piano, and he sampled the main theme. Moving the sample further down the keys slowed it down, and given what the film is about, he thought it should be slow. He then sat at the drum kit in the studio like Frank Sinatra in the film.

Adamson said Bernstein's assistant was a fan who had to hear anything done with Bernstein's music, and told Bernstein he should hear this one. After the first few bars Bernstein said it sounded good to him, which allowed Mute to release it. Released as Mute 77, it entered the indie chart on 5 November 1988 and reached 12 over three weeks. Trouser Press called it a great, throbbing version and said it was previewed on a four-song 1988 EP. It was added as the last bonus track on the CD of Moss Side Story.