The Voice

Hayward wrote it and Pip Williams produced; Wikipedia gives a recording date of April 25, 1980. Hayward plays acoustic and electric guitars and sings lead and most harmony, with Lodge and Thomas on the oh oh refrain; he plays the solo on a 1963 red Gibson ES-335, and Edge drums to a click track. The album version opens with a roughly 30-second synthesizer intro by Moraz drawn from a song he wrote about a year earlier. The key is E minor. The song reflects Hayward's insecurities at the time, the pressure of stardom, bad reviews and writer's block, with the voice being one's harshest critic; he says it means a lot to him but declined to explain further.

The single came out on July 23, 1981 on Threshold with "22,000 Days" on the B-side. It reached 15 on the Hot 100, 1 on US Mainstream Rock (four weeks), 16 on Adult Contemporary, 15 on Cash Box and 9 in Canada. We found no video details, live history, covers or samples.