Songfacts®:

• "All Cried Out" is one of Alison Moyet's most popular songs, and one she almost always includes in her setlists. In the song, she's reached her breaking point and ready to kick her guy to the curb. She loved him with all her heart, but but he offered nothing in return.
  
  The song isn't based on personal experience, but Moyet had no trouble imagining what that would be like. It was her co-writer, Steve Jolley, who came up with the title.
  
  "It's not a phrase I'd heard before and it's not one I'd naturally use, but the sentiment is quite clear: there's no more s--t you have to give," She explained on the Moyet Moments podcast.
• The song was Moyet's second single as a solo artist, following "Love Resurrection." Both songs are from her debut solo album, Alf, released in 1984 after Yazoo, her duo with Vince Clarke, called it quits. Clarke came into Yazoo well known for his time in Depeche Mode, but Moyet had been on the pub circuit and hadn't recorded professionally until they teamed up. Yazoo put her on the map with hits like "Only You" and "Don't Go," but it wasn't clear if she'd sell as a solo artist. Any doubts were answered when the Alf album went to #1 in her native UK; she became one of the top singers in Britain during this era. In America she never broke through but neither did Yazoo, whose popularity was limited to dance clubs and cans of European new wave.
• Moyet's songwriting at the time was geared toward lyrics that were relatable but also sang well - whether she lived the experience didn't matter. Later in her career, she liked her songs to have more of a personal connection. Still, "All Cried Out" is one that works. "The lyrics are more direct than the lyric I write today, but there's nothing in there I can't relate to," she explained. "I was writing songs that weren't firmly about me or my life experiences. I was not in the state of being all cried out. Later on, it became far more significant for me to relate to a lyric, because I found singing songs that didn't give me that connection, they didn't hold my interest. You need to find something in there to hang on to."
• A year later, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam had a hit in America with a song of the same title. In Lisa Lisa's "All Cried Out," she's heartbroken and has cried so many tears for this guy that her ducts have run dry. Moyet's song is much more defiant - she has nothing left to offer this dude, not even her tears.
• Why does this song hold up so well? "It's worked because it runs the gamut of vocal range," Moyet said on Moyet Moments. "Melodically it makes progressive sense, and lyrically, it's a universal experience. All of us, at some point, get to that stage where we're at the end game."
• Sometimes the biggest hits for an artist are ones written quickly without much toil. "All Cried Out" is one of them. Moyet says it's the "least thought out" song on the album.
• Steve Jolley and Tony Swain were Moyet's producers for the Alf album and wrote this song with her. Jolley and Swain were also at the helm for hits by Bananarama ("Cruel Summer") and Spandau Ballet ("True").
• Fun fact: In 1975, the storied Motown songwriter/producer Lamont Dozier released a single as a solo artist called "All Cried Out" that went to #101 in America. On the Alf album, Moyet recorded a song written by Dozier called "Invisible," which was her biggest hit in America.