Alive And Kicking

A big step up from "conscious and breathing" and a huge improvement over "dead and buried," Simple Minds were "alive and kicking" in 1985 when they released this song as the first single from their Once Upon A Time album. The group was enjoying creative and critical success, with their 1984 album Sparkle in the Rain a breakthrough, scoring three Top 10 hits in the UK and earning plaudits from the prickly British music press. Lead singer Jim Kerr, who wrote the lyric, had reason to celebrate on a personal level as well: He married Chrissie Hynde in 1984 and the couple had a daughter, Yasmin, the next year.

Simple Minds were working in America when they came up with the music for this song. The jaunty tune inspired a similarly upbeat lyric from Jim Kerr, who told Songfacts: "We were in New York, it was summer, Manhattan. We could feel the band was really on the verge of something, and I think that positivity and that idea of hope formed the lyrics."

Robin Clark sang backing vocals (credited as "Additional Lead Singer") on the track. The American vocalist is the wife of one of David Bowie's favorite guitarists: Carlos Alomar. Clark has also worked with the Thin White Duke, including on his Young Americans album.