Johnny Come Home

"Johnny Come Home" was written by Steele and Gift and produced by Cox, Steele and Gift, released on London in May 1985 (May 31 per Wikipedia) with "Good Times and Bad" on the B-side. It is ska with rock elements and a jazz-style muted trumpet solo. The song alternates a runaway youth's first-person account of disappointing city life with the parents' chorus wishing him home, and International Musician says it was inspired by a television documentary on young runaways. The demo was recorded in one afternoon at The Sound Suite in Camden, with the trumpet added later. London proposed a re-record with Anne Dudley of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, which was abandoned after time and money were spent, and the original demo became the single; Gift said ours was clearly better, and Steele that it was half-programmed, half-live.

It reached number eight in the UK in July 1985, 76 on the US Hot 100, nine on the US dance chart, eight in Belgium and Israel's six, and five in Italy. Melody Maker's David Bennun called it their first and best hit, brisk, poignant and discreetly political. It was played in 13 of 96 setlists on setlist.fm, their second most played song. The 1990 remixes, and others by Mark Moore, Mousse T, Derrick Carter and Frankie Knuckles, are in FYC40. Which version our upload is has not been established.