“Geisha Boys and Temple Girls” by Heaven 17

"Geisha Boys and Temple Girls" is a track from Penthouse and Pavement, the English synth-pop band Heaven 17's 1981 debut on Virgin. Glenn Gregory wrote the words and sings lead, and he shares the music credit with Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, the pair who had come out of the Human League. They made the record in a Sheffield studio, trading shifts with their old band, who were cutting Dare at the same time.

Here the synthesizers get company: Marsh adds saxophone and percussion, Ware plays piano and percussion and sings backing vocals, and the local session man John Wilson brings bass and guitar, the hired hand who gave the band room to move beyond pure electronics. B.E.F. and Steve Rance produced it.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.