Through the Barricades - Remastered

This is a Romeo & Juliet-style love story set in a troubled Northern Ireland. A boy and a girl, one a Catholic and one a Protestant, betray their families and their upbringing to meet on the bomb sites and the no-man's land between divided communities. The setting is given away by the drum and pipe marching music, so reminiscent of the parades mentioned in the second chorus. Like Shakespeare's play, there is a tragic ending. The "Hearts go to their graves," but it is not clear whether this refers metaphorically to the end of the affair or a suicide pact.

Several of the band went on the record to say they considered this better than their more successful song, "True."

A major influence on this song was the killing of Thomas Reilly, who on August 9, 1983 was fatally shot in the back by a soldier in Belfast. Reilly was a friend of the band and sold merchandise on their True tour. After the tour, he returned to his native Belfast and got caught in the violence in the area. When Reilly, a Roman Catholic, was shot by the British soldier, it inflamed tensions and led to more riots in the area.

Speaking on the BBC program The One Show, Spandau Ballet guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp explained: "I'd been to Ireland a few times - it was quite shocking for privileged boys as we were. When we went back in 1985, his brother Jim Reilly offered to take me to Falls Road to visit the grave of Thomas. As I took that walk, I could see the barricades set up dividing the two main streets, the Protestant side and the Catholic side. It didn't occur to me to write a song at that point, but it was a huge influence.

I was living in Ireland about a year later, and 'Through The Barricades' came to me in one evening. About two in the morning, lyrics started appearing in my head and I picked up a guitar - this has never happened to me before. I felt the song was leading me itself.

It's a song not specifically about what happened to Reilly, it's a love song, which is what I know best. It's a Romeo & Juliet song - two people trying to have a relationship that wasn't really allowed."