Quiet Life (song)

"Quiet Life"
1981 UK single cover
Single by Japan
from the album Quiet Life and Assemblage
B-side
Released
  • December 1979 (1979-12) (Japan)
  • March 1980 (1980-03) (EU)
  • 21 August 1981 (1981-08-21) (UK)[1]
Genre
Length
  • 4:14 (1979 single)
  • 3:51 (1980 single & UK B-side)
  • 3:34 (1981 7" edit)
  • 4:50 (1981 12"; Quiet Life & Assemblage album version)
Label
Songwriter(s)David Sylvian
Producer(s)John Punter
Japan singles chronology
"Life in Tokyo"
(1979) 		"Quiet Life"
(1979) 		"I Second That Emotion"
(1980)
Japan singles chronology
"I Second That Emotion"
(1980) 		"Quiet Life"
(1980) 		"Gentlement Take Polaroids"
(1980)
Japan singles chronology
"Life in Tokyo"
(1981) 		"Quiet Life"
(1981) 		"Visions of China"
(1981)

"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.[6]

  1. ^ "Releases" (PDF). Record Mirror. 22 August 1981. p. 27. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  2. ^ Ham, Robert (March 9, 2021). "Japan - Quiet Life". Pitchfork. Retrieved August 6, 2023. ...the disco-pop shimmy of the title track...
  3. ^ Breithaupt, Don; Breithaupt, Jeff (July 17, 2000). "A Flock of Haircuts: New Wave". Night Moves - Pop Music in the Late 70s. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-312-19821-3.
  4. ^ Quiet Life, BMG 2004 CD liner notes
  5. ^ Assemblage, BMG 2004 CD liner notes
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference UK was invoked but never defined (see the help page).