THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

720-Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark-Enola Gay.

1980-Number 8 single.

Best Bit-At 2.20.When the song was first released it was misperceived by some as a homosexual love song.As such, the track was banned from being played on the BBC children’s programme ‘Swap Shop.’

‘OMD’ were formed in 1978 in Meois, Wirral, Merseyside, England, by Andy McCluskey, and Paul Humphreys, they had first met at primary school in the early 1960’s.As teenagers they were both involved in different local bands, but eventually they both decided that the music they wanted to make would be ‘Electronic,’ as both were influenced by artists such as Kraftwerk, and Brian Eno. Working with others they were active until 1989, when Humphrey’s split with McCluskey, leaving to form a new band called the ‘Listening Pool.’McCluskey kept the band name’Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’ going until 1996, but the pair reformed again in 2006.

‘Enola Gay’ is an anti war song, addressing the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6th August, 1945, it was written by Andy McCluskey. The song is named after the Enola Gay, which was the ‘USAAF B-29 Superfortress bomber aeroplane that carried ‘Little Boy,’the name given to the first atomic bomb to be used in an act of war.The name of the aeroplane was chosen by the pilot, Colonel Paul Tibbets (1915-2007,) who named it after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets (1893-1963.)’It’s 8.15, that’s the time it’s always been,’ refers to all the clocks and watches in Hiroshima being frozen by the electromagnetic pulse created by the atomic detonation.

‘Enola Gay, you should have stayed at home yesterday, ah-ha, words can’t describe the feeling, and the way you lied.’