Prefab Sprout – Johnny Johnny

The final single from Prefab Sprout’s 1985 Thomas Dobly produced classic album Steve McQueen, “Johnny Johnny” has a bit of an interesting history: inspired by the simplicity of The Police’s “Walking On the Moon,” written about “the most clichéd rock ‘n’ roll word ever used,” later retitled to “Goodbye Lucille #1” on the album release (there is no “Goodbye Lucille #2”). The track is, of course, a classic and one of the standouts from Steve McQueen, but it’s actually one of the B-sides here that makes this single worth acquiring. “Wigs” is a gorgeous lo-fi dream pop track featuring just a raw drum machine groove, bass guitar + synthesizer, and a looping ethereal vocal from Wendy Smith. Paddy McAloon explained in a 1988 interview about his raw B-sides, “I wanted to do my fans a favour by including bonus tracks. That’s why I went to the studio without songs, I wrote them there, which I usually never do.”