Although Scottish band Simple Minds are most well-known (in America at least) for their 1985 hit “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” (which I do love), their 1986 single “All the Things She Said” is one of my favorite songs by them. I love everything about it – that slow-burn of an opening with wobbly synths accompanied by gentle drumbeats, followed by a sultry guitar riff that expands into a glorious soundscape of sweeping strings, intense piano keys, roiling guitars and dramatic percussion, finally ending with a flourish that’s like a rock version of a classical piece. Then there’s the double threat of lead singer Jim Kerr’s sensuous fervent vocals, accompanied by soulful backing vocals by American singer Robin Clark.

Simple Minds formed in Glasgow in late 1977 from the ashes of punk band Johnny & The Self-Abusers, who split up due to internal strife, with a lineup consisting of Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill, Brian McGee and Tony Donald, all of whom were teenagers at the time. Donald would soon leave the band, while Mick MacNeil and Derek Forbes joined, and the band would continue as a five-piece through 1981. They released their debut album Life in a Day in 1979 to limited success in the UK, and finally broke through with their fifth album New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) in 1982, which reached #3 in the UK and #69 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart, marking their first album to chart in the U.S. But it was their song “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”, used in the opening of the 1985 film The Breakfast Club, that catapulted them to international fame. Written by Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff, and previously offered to Billy Idol and Bryan Ferry before Simple Minds agreed to record it, the song became a chart-topper in the U.S. and many other countries around the world.

Over their 46-year-long career, Simple Minds have released 21 studio albums, 11 live albums, 10 compilation albums, 14 box sets, 68 singles, and five video albums, selling more than 60 million albums worldwide. They were the most commercially successful Scottish band of the 1980s, and despite numerous changes in personnel they continue to record and tour to this day.

But back to “All the Things She Said”, in an 2015 interview with Songfacts, Kerr said the song was inspired by an article he read about Polish political prisoners in the Soviet Union. “There was an interview with wives of guys that had been away for a long time, taken away, and some of the beautiful quotations that the women had used became sort of the background for that song.”

The song was included on their seventh studio album Once Upon A Time, released in October 1985 and produced by famed music producer Jimmy Iovine. The album features their four highest-charting hits in the U.S. – “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”, “Alive And Kicking”, “Sanctify Yourself” and “All the Things She Said”. The song reached #4 in Ireland, #6 in the Netherlands, #9 in the UK and #28 on the US Billboard Hot 100, though it reached #9 on the Billboard Hot Rock Tracks chart.

Don’t you look back on a big lost world
Crying out tomorrow
Don’t you look down like the heroes say
Come tell me all about it
Take me to the streets where the bonfires burn
Take me in your arms and I’ll fade away
When I hear you say what you got to say

Anywhere you go, you know I’ll still be waiting
All the things she said, she said
Little darling close your eyes, there’ll be no compromising
Of all the things she said, she said

Throw me to the street where the heartbeats beating
“Beating all around me”
To the peaceful revolution
And the perfect wave, surround me
Tell me ’bout the ocean moving in slow motion
I see it glitter in the sun
Then it’s freezing in the moonlight
Never look back, never look back, never look away

If freedom comes and goes, you know I’ll still be waiting
All the things she said, she said
You’ve fought the fight so long, no surrender to temptation
Of all the things she said, she said

Stars will fall out for you
Luck will surrender
I’m calling out to you

Oh to be near you in the first morning light
I’d be with you, I dream about you
If I could leave here, I would leave here tonight
I’d be with you, I’d stay with you tonight
Tonight

Anywhere you go, you know I’ll still be waiting
Of all the things she said, she said
When I look into your eyes, I see a new day rising
Oh all the things she said, she said
Through the eyes of love, and to never know what hate is
Of all the things she said, she said
She said, this is our time, she said, this is our place
This is the space my heart wants to be
Little darling close your eyes, there’ll be no compromising
All the things she said, she said