"Desperate But Not Serious" is a song by

Adam Ant Stuart Leslie Goddard (born 3 November 1954), known professionally as Adam Ant, is an English singer, musician, and actor. He gained popularity as the lead singer of new wave group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring 10 UK ...

, released on 19 November 1982 as the third

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from his first solo album, '' Friend or Foe''. It peaked at number 33 on the UK Singles Chart, and number 66 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US. Ant performed "Desperate but Not Serious" and "

Goody Two Shoes ''The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes'' is a children's story published by John Newbery in London in 1765. The author of the book remains unclear, but Oliver Goldsmith is generally considered the most likely. The story popularized the phr ...

" on the very first ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'' (AB) is an American Music television, music performance and dance television series that aired in various iterations from 1952 to 1989. It was hosted by Dick Clark who also served as the program's Television producer, pr ...

'' episode of 1983. The song appears on the greatest hits collection, '' Antics in the Forbidden Zone'', and both the studio version and a live version appear on the double Adam Ant compilation, '' Antmusic: The Very Best of Adam Ant''.

Credits

"Desperate But Not Serious" was written by Adam Ant and

Marco Pirroni Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni (born 27 April 1959) frequently credited simply as Marco, is a British guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with Adam Ant, Sinéad O'Connor, Siouxsie and the Banshees and many others from the la ...

. The track features Adam on vocals and

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, Marco on

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, Geoff Daly on

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, Martin Drover on

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

and Bogdan Wiczling on

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

"Why Do Girls Love Horses?"

It was fairly common for Ant to record new versions of his pre-1980 compositions for the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of his singles. For this single, an old Ant song from 1978 called "Why Do Girls Love Horses?" was used. Ant first recorded the song as a four track home demo in July 1978 while living in

Notting Hill Gate Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in Inner London. Historically the street was a location for Tollbooth, toll gates, from which it derives its modern name. Location At Ossingto ...

. The song remained unused until this particular version was recorded in 1982. "Why Do Girls Love Horses?" finally received its live debut in December 2010 at a concert at Camden's

Electric Ballroom The Electric Ballroom is a 1,500-capacity performance venue (primarily for rock and roll, rock bands) and indoor market located at 184 Camden High Street in Camden Town, London, England. History The Electric Ballroom started as an Irish ballr ...

as part of Ant's World Tour of London 2010-2011.

Charts

References

{{authority control 1982 songs 1982 singles Adam Ant songs Songs written by Adam Ant Songs written by Marco Pirroni CBS Records singles