I Love 1980 - 24

Enola Gay - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
"Many people simply don't know what it's actually about. Some even thought it was a coded message that we were gay. We were both geeks about WWII airplanes. The most famous and influential single bomber was Enola Gay. Obvious choice for us, really." Thus Andy McCluskey, OMD frontman and writer of this seminal 'eighties' song which started to climb the charts thirty years ago this week.
It may seem incredible after all this time people still don't know what the song's about, although to be fair there never was any direct reference to the first atom bomb used in warfare and the plane that dropped it on Hiroshime, either in the video, the cover or perhaps in the up-tempo happy go lucky music itself. (Was there something immorally wrong about a bouncy, electro-poppy dance tune which almost seemed to celebrate the plane and its doings?). But that's those geeky OMD boys for you ...they write a good song and you can whistle it, dance to it, and even please your parents with it but the lyrics almost always have a deeper meaning.
"It's 8.15, and that's the time that's it's always been" it's not about what time you get up in the morning but it's the hour at which the bomb was actually dropped. "Is mother proud of Little Boy today?" isn't about little Johnny coming top in maths it's the code-names used for the plane and the bomb respectively. "This kiss you give is nevr gonna fade away" isn't about the smacker your grlfriend gave you last Saturday night, it's the impact of the first atomic bomb falling to earth and how it affected the rest of history. Geddit now? Oh and no..it's nothing about being gay either.

The song was of course the band's breakthrough into the top ten and a wider audience, even after the success of Messages earlier in the year. Although it was the only single off the Organisation album (more of that later..) the track was strong enough to see them into the even more successful Architecture & Morality period almost a year later. Big hair was out, smart shirt n ties and granny-knit tank-tops were in in.

Whatever you may think about OMD's Enola Gay - cheesy, annoying, superficial, immoral, ace, totally brilliant, life-changing (ahem), - it's certainly one of those tunes that has entered into the public conscious worldwide; you can't mention "Enola Gay" in a historical context without feeling the urge to whistle a bar or two, and you can't hear it come on the radio without wanting to sing or hum along or even air-synth or do a funny dance to. No you can't. Just try.


Enola Gay chart-stats:

geeky video: OMD Andy McCluskey breaks down the structure of Enola Gay


Those wishing for something other than the tried and trusted hit version should give the more downbeat pre-Mike Howlett Peel Sessions version a listen or two, recorded earlier in 1980, and featured here. Avoid the dreadful 1998 Sash! remix like the plague..

Listen: OMD - Enola Gay (early version)