“Israel” by Siouxsie and the Banshees

"Israel" was a stand-alone single that Siouxsie and the Banshees put out on Polydor in 1980, and it began as a plan to have a Christmas song in the shops by December. They wrote it on the road while touring Europe that autumn, an unusual move for them, and it was the first single Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin wrote with guitarist John McGeoch and drummer Budgie.

Nigel Gray co-produced, and the masterstroke is the backing: a Welsh choir of 30 voices swelling behind Siouxsie, turning a post-punk band's festive gesture into something eerie and cathedral-sized. It quickly became a fixture of their encores on every tour, and it has fans in high places: Air's Jean-Benoît Dunckel counts it among his favourite songs, Ride used it on their intro tape, and Howie B named it as part of the soundtrack to his Glasgow youth.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.