Falling and Laughing: Orange Juice and the birth of indie pop

Orange Juice's debut single, "Falling and Laughing", released in the spring of 1980, signalled the return of unabashed romance. Renouncing post-punk's demystification, Collins proclaimed the sacred singularity of his sweetheart: 'You say there's a thousand like you/Well maybe that's true/I fell for you and nobody else'.

Orange Juice's sense of humour was also crucial. That was why it was called "Falling and Laughing": in the song, Collins proposed a merry sense of one's own absurdity as a salve for love's humiliations - 'What can I do but learn to laugh at myself?' Love tore you apart again, and again, but in Orange Juice's world, heartbreak always came with a side order of quips.

Orange Juice - Falling and Laughing 1980

You can hear a touch of Vic Godard in Orange Juice's lyrics: the preference for charmingly quaint, staunchly un-American language, like the chorus 'Goodness gracious/You're so audacious' singer Edwyn Collins simpers archly on "In a Nutshell".

Orange Juice - In a Nutshell 1982

"Simply Thrilled Honey", their third single, made sensitivity subversive. Based on a real incident, it depicted Collins as a shrinking violet - the reluctant prey of a female seducer. Collins told Sounds, 'I didn't want to go to bed with her. I wasn't sexually attracted to her but, above all, I didn't love her. And I think it's really important to only go to bed with someone if you love them - that's what the line "wordliness must keep apart from me" means...There is such a pressure on boys to be manly...I find going to bed with somebody you don't love...disorientating'.

Orange Juice - Simply Thrilled Honey 1980

In "Consolation Prize", Orange Juice's loveliest song of all, Collins try to woo a girl away from her boyfriend, a mean mistreater who has 'crumpled up' her face in tears countless times, whereas Edwyn makes her laugh with his 'so frightfully camp' Roger McGuinn fringe. Collins even contemplates buying a dress to cheer her up. 'I'll be you consolation prize', he pleads. In the end, he's resigned to remain unrequited, but as Orange Juice's golden cascades of guitars propel the song towards a climactic slow fade, Collins almost rejoices in the fact that 'I'll never be man enough for you'. He sounds exultant rather than mournful, triumphant not defeated.

Orange Juice - Consolation Prize 1982