Thinking Of You

Album: Virgins and Philistines (1985)
Charted: 12
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Songfacts®:

  • "Thinking of You" wraps a song of romantic uncertainty in deceptively upbeat clothes. Terry Hall sings from the perspective of someone helplessly devoted to a partner who either cannot or will not return the sentiment. Because the target of his affection remains entirely self-contained, he is left trapped in his own head, perpetually contemplating what could be rather than actually experiencing it.
  • Terry Hall wrote "Thinking Of You" with Colourfield guitarist/keyboardist Toby Lyons. Hall, the famously melancholic former front man of The Specials and Fun Boy Three, brought his characteristic ability to smuggle heartbreak into a catchy melody. Toby Lyons had previously been a member of The Swinging Cats, a 2 Tone group who had toured with Fun Boy Three, which is how he and Hall first connected. Lyons co-wrote all the material on Colourfield's two albums, and his Mediterranean-tinged guitar work was central to the Colourfield's sound.
  • Hall was famously private in interviews and never identified a real-life inspiration for "Thinking of You." The lyrics, however, feel rooted in a very specific emotional predicament: loving someone who seems perfectly capable of carrying on without you. Throughout his career, Hall drew heavily on his own emotional landscape, and the song's vulnerability has the unmistakable feel of lived experience rather than an exercise in storytelling.
  • "Thinking of You" was part of The Colourfield's debut album, Virgins and Philistines. Released as a single, it climbed to #12 on the UK Singles Chart and #11 in Ireland, becoming Terry Hall's biggest solo-era hit outside his work with The Specials and Fun Boy Three.
  • The song's Spanish-influenced production was helmed by Hugh Jones, one of the post-punk era's most sought-after British producers. Jones had already made his name delivering clean, spacious soundscapes for guitar bands like Echo & the Bunnymen, Modern English, The Icicle Works, and The Damned.

    Working alongside Jeremy Green, Jones gave Virgins and Philistines a polished elegance that critics later likened to contemporaries Aztec Camera and Prefab Sprout. The album was recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, even though all three members of The Colourfield hailed from Coventry.
  • The distinctive female harmonies on "Thinking of You" were provided by Katrina Phillips in what would be her sole appearance on a Colourfield record. She later went on to carve out a career as a voiceover artist in Australia.

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