Songfacts®:

• In the first verse of this song, there's a reference to the rise and the fall of the British Empire, which leads into a scathing lyric about a deceitful cheat. It sounds like a political song, but Alarm frontman/lyricist Mike Peters had something different in mind. "It is in fact an attempt to explore the thin line between love and hate," he told Record magazine. "To write a song about how people can have fistfights and violently argue with each other without it detracting from their relationship."
• This was released as a single from The Alarm's debut album, Declaration, in 1984. By this time, the band had already released a few singles and opened for U2 on the American leg of the 1983 War tour. It looked to be their breakout hit, but stalled on the charts at #104 in America and #51 in the UK. The Alarm never found glory but did build up an impressive discography before their sudden demise in 1991 when lead singer Mike Peters announced he wa leaving the band from the stage at their concert in London.
• "The Deceiver" was written by The Alarm songwriting team of bass player Eddie Macdonald (music) and lead singer Mike Peters (lyrics).
• This song was promoted with a music video that shows the band performing in front of what looks like a haunted mansion. It was directed by John Scarlett-Davis, who also did the Simple Minds video for "Waterfront." The Alarm had the looks to be video stars, but MTV had a pretty tight rotation and the band never broke through on the network.