Rough Justice (Bananarama song)

"Rough Justice" is a song by English girl group Bananarama. It was co-written by group members Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward and the writing-production duo Jolley & Swain who also produced the song. The song was released in May 1984 as the third single from their self-titled second album.

"Rough Justice"
Single by Bananarama
from the album Bananarama
B-side"Live Now"
Released14 May 1984
RecordedSeptember 1983
GenrePop
Length5:05 (Album Version)
3:38 (7" Version)
LabelLondon Records
Songwriter(s)Sara Dallin
Siobhan Fahey
Keren Woodward
Jolley & Swain
Producer(s)Jolley & Swain
Bananarama singles chronology
"Robert De Niro's Waiting..."
(1984)
"Rough Justice"
(1984)
"King of the Jungle"
(1984)

The song is one of several composed by Bananarama at the time which lyrically addressed "serious" topics, in this case societal injustices towards children, poverty, starvation and innocent bystanders who are given "no time to smile before they die". Although the music was upbeat, the heavy lyrical content did not prove to be as successful as their prior single ("Robert De Niro's Waiting..."). It peaked at number 23 in the UK singles chart. In Australia, the song failed to chart and it was not released as a single in the United States.

"Rough Justice" was remixed slightly from its album version when released as a single, most notably in the track's introduction.

Music video

The music video features the girls preparing for an appearance on a show at a TV studio. The video begins with a young boy dressed in a tuxedo entering the girls' dressing room to give them congratulatory flowers only to take pictures of them without asking, which causes Keren Woodward to eject him from the room. As soon as the boy is gone, the girls see a TV news report on poverty situations which is actually being made in the studio next door (the report was presented by BBC newscaster Peter Woods, who made a cameo in the clip). The studio director comes by and leads the girls to the studio where they will be filming their appearance but as he is looking away, the girls head into the other studio. They end up hijacking the news broadcast in order to get their message out to the public.[1]

Track listing

UK & NL 7" vinyl single

UK: London Records NANA 7 / NL: London Records 820 081-7

  1. "Rough Justice (single version)" 3:38
  2. "Live Now" 3:31

+ some copies of the 7" came with free poster

+ some copies of the 7" came with a 3D sleeve NAND 7

12" vinyl single

London Records NANX 7

  1. "Rough Justice (12" Version)" 5:13
  2. "Rough Justice (Album Version)" 5:05
  3. "Live Now" 3:31

+ some copies of the 12" came with three 3D cards NAND X7

Charts

Chart (1984) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[2] 23
Dutch Singles chart 16

References

  1. "Bananarama - Rough Justice (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)". YouTube. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  2. "UK Official Charts: Bananarama". Officialcharts.com. Official Charts Company. 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.


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