Quiet Life (song) explained

Quiet Life
Cover:Japan Quiet Life 1981 single.jpg
Caption:1981 UK single cover
Type:single
Artist:Japan
Album:Quiet Life and Assemblage
B-Side:
  • "Halloween" (1979)
  • "I Second That Emotion" (1980)
  • "A Foreign Place" (1981)
Released:
  • (Japan)
  • (EU)
  • (UK)[1]
Genre:
Length:
  • (1979 single)
  • (1980 single & UK B-side)
  • (1981 7" edit)
  • (1981 12"; Quiet Life & Assemblage album version)
Producer:John Punter
Prev Title:Life in Tokyo
Prev Year:1979
Year:1979
Next Title:I Second That Emotion
Next Year:1980

"Quiet Life" is a song by the British new wave band Japan. It is the title track of their 1979 album Quiet Life. The lyrics to the song refer to the problems the band was going through at the time. They had lost their US record contract and Hansa Records had been pressuring them for a hit single in the UK.[4]

"Quiet Life" was first released as a single in Japan in December 1979 with the B-side "Halloween". In March 1980, it was released in Germany and the Netherlands with the B-side "Second That Emotion", whereas in the UK "Quiet Life" was released as the B-side of the unsuccessful "Second That Emotion".[5] Following the commercial success of the band's 1981 album Tin Drum, Hansa Records reissued the song as a single that year to promote the band's upcoming compilation album Assemblage. It became a top 20 hit on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 19 in October 1981 for 2 weeks.

Track listings

7": Ariola / AHA 1013 (1979, Japan)[6]

  1. "Quiet Life" – 4:14
  2. "Halloween" – 4:24

7": Hansa (1980, Germany and the Netherlands)[7]

  1. "Quiet Life" – 3:51
  2. "Second That Emotion" – 3:46

7" B-side: Ariola / AHA 559 (1980, UK)[8]

  1. "Second That Emotion" – 3:46
  2. "Quiet Life" – 3:51

7": Hansa / HANSA 6 (1981, UK)

  1. "Quiet Life" – 3:34
  2. "A Foreign Place" – 3:11

12" Hansa / HANSA 12-6 (1981, UK)

  1. "Quiet Life" (Extended Version) – 4:50
  2. "A Foreign Place" – 3:11
  3. "Fall in Love With Me" – 4:30

Notes and References

  1. 22 August 1981. Releases. Record Mirror. 27. 4 April 2022.
  2. Web site: Japan - Quiet Life. . March 9, 2021 . August 6, 2023 . Ham . Robert. ...the disco-pop shimmy of the title track....
  3. Book: Night Moves - Pop Music in the Late 70s. Don. Breithaupt. Jeff. Breithaupt. July 17, 2000. A Flock of Haircuts: New Wave. 152. St. Martin's Griffin. 978-0-312-19821-3.
  4. Quiet Life, BMG 2004 CD liner notes
  5. Assemblage, BMG 2004 CD liner notes
  6. Web site: Japan - Quiet Life = クワイエット・ライフ. 2020-10-19. Discogs. en.
  7. Web site: Japan - Quiet Life / Second That Emotion. 2020-10-19. Discogs. en.
  8. Web site: Japan Discography - The Hansa Years. 2020-10-19. discog.info.