The Human League

Released: October 16, 1981

Songwriter: Philip Oakey Jo Callis

Producer: Martin Rushent The Human League

And when it hurts you know
They love to tell you
How they warned you
They say "Don't be surprised
At someone's lies"
They think they taunt you
But if you can stand the test
You know your worst is better
Than their best

And so you stand here
With the years ahead
Potentially calling
With open heart
Or with a spirit dead
You walk on

Love is the reason
Faith or treason
Playing a part
End concealing
Try revealing
Open your heart
Dare to feel
Take the chance
Make the deal

Being an island
Shying from trying
Seems the easy way
Such an easy way
But there's no future
Without tears

Love is the reason
Faith or treason
Playing a part
End concealing
Try revealing
Open your heart

But if you can stand the test
You know your worst is better than their best

Love is the reason
Faith or treason
Playing a part
End concealing
Try revealing
Open your heart

The Human League are a synth pop band from Sheffield, England, formed in 1977. They generated a string of synthesizer-backed dance pop hits throughout the 80s. David Bowie dubbed the group “the sound of the future” in 1981.

The band is best known for its third studio album released in 1981, Dare! The fourth single from Dare, “Don’t You Want Me,” catapulted to #1 in the UK and US.

Phil Oakey is the only core member of the group. The band’s first incarnation was as an arty all-male synthesizer group, composed of Oakey, Martyn Ware, and Ian Craig Marsh. In the 1980s, Ware and Marsh left the group after continued conflicts with Oakey—they went on to form Heaven 17.

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