The Lebanon (song)

The song was conceived, written and recorded at a time when the band was under considerable pressure to follow up the enormous international success of their previous album, Dare. The band had taken up residence in the £1000 a day AIR Studios; they were there a full year and were agonising (and arguing) over every note of every track.[2]

With its heavy use of bass and rock guitars, "The Lebanon" was a radical departure from the established synthpop sound of the Human League. Though the song does employ some keyboards, the use of guitars by the band was not lost on music critics who brought up the "no guitars rule" that the band had publicly adopted in 1981.

The lyrics were an attempt to make a statement on the Lebanese civil war which had been exacerbated by the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in 1982. In a television interview, band member Philip Adrian Wright commented that Oakey's politically-charged lyrics were written specifically about the Sabra and Shatila massacre.[3] Singer Susan Ann Sulley said of the song that the band "wanted to speak up for the little people" and say something about the situation in Lebanon at the time, and that the band was not trying to be political for the sake of it.[4] The band were criticised at the time for being banal and "out of their depth",[5] but in a retrospective review, AllMusic journalist Andy Kellman wrote that the song "looks atrocious on paper but sounds fantastic".[6][7]

"The Lebanon" was released as a UK single in April 1984. It failed to replicate the Top 3 success of the band's previous singles "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" and "Mirror Man", only reaching number 11 in the UK Singles chart[8] and number 64 in the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their lowest-charting single ever in the United States.[9] The track is nearly always played by the band live.

The music video for the song was filmed in the Theatre Royal, London in March 1984. The video at first sight appears to be filmed at a Human League concert with the band playing live on stage. The concert was in fact staged and was filmed in takes as the band mimed to playback. The audience were invited extras and bit part dancers were placed in the front of the stage. This is very noticeable when the camera pans onto the audience where certain extras desperately try to play up for their 'shot at fame'.[2]

Even though it was a faux concert, the band's appearance on stage is notable for its layout and behaviour. The three vocalists are in a straight line at the front of the stage, a very energetic Susan Sulley on the left, a serious Philip Oakey in the centre and a cool, laid back, sashaying Joanne Catherall on the right, with the instrumentalists to the rear. This arrangement and performance style is still often used when the band plays live.