Come to Milton Keynes
{{Infobox song
| name = Come to Milton Keynes
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = the Style Council
| album = Our Favourite Shop
| released = 1985
| format =
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Lounge{{AllMusic |class=album|id=mw0000544599|title= The Style Council - The Best of Style Council (2001) Review|last= Dedina|first= Nick|access-date= January 23, 2025}}
| length = 3:02
| label = Polydor
| writer = Paul Weller
| producer =
| prev_title = Walls Come Tumbling Down!
| prev_year = 1985
| next_title = The Lodgers
| next_year = 1985
| misc =
}}
Come to Milton Keynes is a single released by the English band the Style Council in 1985. It was the second single from the band's second studio album, Our Favourite Shop, and charted at No. 23 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 14 on the Irish Singles Chart.{{Cite web |title=The Irish Charts - All there is to know |url=http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement |access-date=2023-07-13 |website=www.irishcharts.ie}}
Background
The title refers to Milton Keynes, a new town established in 1967, midway between London and Birmingham. In an interview given at the time of the song's release, Paul Weller stated that the song was inspired by the "Red Balloon" Milton Keynes advert, which was produced on behalf of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation.
Critical reception
Paul Weller biographer John Reed argues in Paul Weller: My Ever Changing Moods (1996) that:
The song’s lyrics suggested a reality of drugs, violence, and ‘losing our way’ behind a façade of ‘luscious houses ‘ where the ‘curtains are drawn’, the idea being to create a musical pastiche which matched the supposed artificiality of Milton Keynes itself.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mkweb.co.uk/PAUL-WELLER-true-story-Style-Council-s-Come/story-26039737-detail/story.html|title=InYourArea}}
More recently, Thomas McLean has called the song "a missing link between the Kinks’ “Village Green Preservation Society” and Blur’s “Country House”," and "a dark commentary on one of the last of the new towns."{{Cite journal|last=McLean|first=Thomas|date=2 December 2020|title=Evil Turns to Statues: Paul Weller's Style Council Years|url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/short-takes/evil-turns-statues-paul-wellers-style-council-years/|journal=Los Angeles Review of Books|accessdate=19 December 2020}}
References
{{The Style Council}}
{{authority control}}
Category:The Style Council songs