Simply Red

Released: October 14, 1985

Songwriter: Fritz McIntyre Mick Hucknall

Producer: Stewart Levine

[Verse 1]
Come to my aid, you're sweet as everything
Come to my aid, I'd give you anything
I feel so betrayed by a people I love
Come to my aid, it's you I’m thinking of

Prouder than wild, sad enough to sing
Come to my aid and care for social living

[Chorus]
Why are we liable to die for survival?
Why is our nation divided?
Come to my aid, come to my aid
Come to my aid, come to my aid

[Verse 2]
In the poverty stakes see just what it means
When welfare decimates you’d better care
About your fellow people

[Chorus]
Why are we liable to die for survival?
Why is our nation divided?
Come to my aid, come to my aid
Come to my aid, come to my aid

My aid, my aid, my aid, my aid
Come on board, come on board
Come on board, come on board
You better come on board, you better come on board
You better come on board, you better come on board

Simply Red is a British soul and pop band. The first incarnation of the band was a punk group called The Frantic Elevators, whose seven-year run produced limited releases on local labels and ended in 1984 upon critical acclaim for their final single, “Holding Back the Years”.

By early 1985, Mick Hucknall and manager Elliot Rashman had assembled a band of local session musicians and begun to attract record company attention. The group adopted the name “Red” (after Hucknall’s nickname, denoting his hair colour) but then Mick decided it would sound better with the addition of the word ‘Simply.’

Since the mid 1980s, the band has sold more than 50 million albums.

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