“African and White” (1981) – China Crisis * Written by Gary Daly, Eddie Lundon, and Dave Reilly * 45: “African and White” / “Be Suspicious” * LP: Difficult Shapes and Passive Rhythms * Produced by Jeremy Lewis * Label: Inevitable/Virgin
“African and White” was the minimalist debut single from Liverpool’s China Crisis, a group led by Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon, whose flair for electropop enchantment had few rivals during the early ’80s. Although their lyrics tended not to communicate clearly, “African and White” actually had the building blocks for a social protest message about Israel’s support of South Africa’s Apartheid. Most of the low-quality lyric repository sites have this one wrong, missing the “Israel” in the chorus. Reached #45 on the UK singles chart.