Gene - Sleep Well Tonight
A sort of companion piece to The Eton Rifles, and coincidentally cropping up on the same label (Polydor), Sleep Well Tonight was Gene’s third single, and the first that would make it onto debut album Olympian. (It was a brave person who decided to leave out the two outstanding earlier songs, For The Dead and Be My Light, Be My Guide, that had made Gene’s name).
Like The Eton Rifles, it’s a tale of dust-ups and differences; this time it’s not class warfare as such, more the small-town mindset versus anything that dares to act different, think different, be different. Unlike The Eton Rifles, there’s only the threat of violence, never far away if you stray to the wrong side of town, the wrong side of the bar, or the wrong side of some jumped up, lagered up townie giving it the big I am.
This was prime Gene era, and what did they get for it? Iffy reviews and everywhere accusations of being the pale version of The Smiths no-one needed. Tough crowd those inkies.