Red Skies by The Fixx

Album: Shuttered Room (1982)

Charted: 57

License This Song

lyrics

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

This song finds The Fixx lead singer and lyricist Cy Curnin singing about the aftermath of a nuclear fall out. In our 2012 interview with Curnin, he said that this tune, along with "Stand or Fall," echoed "back to that sense of impotence that I felt after 9/11." He explained: "I was feeling that sense of impotence back then in the early '80s or late '70s when Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were getting in bed together, metaphorically speaking, and designing a whole defense system that involved Europeans' lives without asking us - it was never on any electorate ballot that I can remember. That struck a chord."
The band performed the song on Saturday Night Live on February 18, 1984.
The song was re-recorded for The Fixx's 1987 album, React, at the request of their label MCA Records.

Comments: 8

Art From Ca Isn't Smart from CaReagan and Thatcher helped end the UK and America
Art from CaStick to songwriting and music and skip the politics. Anonymous is right. Reagan and Thatcher helped end the Soviet Union.
Helen Purcell from LondonI never knew this song was political. I always envisioned a sense of foreboding when hearing this, like a dangerous storm on the way or fleeing from a psychotic killer.. something sinister. It’s a strange song but it’s always fascinated me. It’s a beautiful song.
Anonymous from Formerly Free States Of AmЗrikaHow can you be so colossally myopic to not grasp that it was the Star Wars program and the iron resolve of Thatcher and Reagan that brought about the fall of the the Soviet empire. Once they realized that they could not intimidate either Thatcher or Reagan nor could they counter the power and force projection of the West financed by the incredible wealth delivered through capitalism, the Soviets, led by Gorbachev quickly resorted to Glasnost and Perestroika which led to greater freedoms in Russia and formerly Soviet block countries and finally the dissolution of the Soviet empire. You would wish that Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and many more be still under the iron thumb of Soviet tyranny? Really?! How disgustingly self-centered and selfish!
AnonymousCatchy electronic music thanks to MTV. with hard core lyrics.
Dean from Birmingham, AlI was in college in 1982 and loved The FIXX and this song. Can't believe it never charted here. Is that correct? I remember hearing it a lot on the radio back then and not just on the University's radio station, which played mostly indies.
Dean from Birmingham, AlI was in college in 1982 and loved The FIXX and this song. Can't believe it never even charted here! Is that correct? I heard it all the time back then and since I never listened to the universities radio station, I know it was played on the mainstream stations.
Jodie from XxIt involved Americans' lives without asking us too there Cy.

see more comments

More Songfacts:

Watching The WheelsJohn Lennon

In the late '70s, John Lennon slowed his roll, becoming a househusband who baked bread and took care of his young son Sean. This inspired his song "Watching The Wheels," where he discovers the benefits of taking it easy.

Last NightGood Charlotte

Good Charlotte's video for "Last Night" reconstructs the TV show "Family Double Dare," complete with host Marc Summers.

I'll WaitVan Halen

Michael McDonald co-wrote the Van Halen song "I'll Wait."

StrongerKanye West

A 2011 Gold's Gym poll found "Stronger" by Kanye West the best song to work out to. Second place was the Rocky theme.

The Rubberband ManThe Spinners

"The Rubberband Man" is a "short, fat guy" with rhythm and grace. Spinners producer Thom Bell wrote it to boost the self-esteem of his rotund son.

My GenerationThe Who

Pete Townshend wrote the lyrics for "My Generation" by The Who during a train ride from London to Southampton on his 20th birthday when he was thinking about "trying to find a place in society."