Sugar Mice
{{Short description|1987 single by Marillion}}
{{About|the song by Marillion|the confectionery|Sugar mice}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Third-party|date=July 2018}}
{{Refimprove|date=April 2021}}}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2015}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Sugar Mice
| cover = Marillion sugarmice.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Marillion
| album = Clutching at Straws
| B-side = Tux On
| released = {{start date|1987|7|13|df=y}}{{cite magazine|title=New Singles|magazine=Music Week|page=39|date=11 July 1987}}
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Rock
| length = 5:47
| label = EMI
| writer =
| producer = Chris Kimsey
| prev_title = Incommunicado
| prev_year = 1987
| next_title = Warm Wet Circles
| next_year = 1987
| misc = {{Audio sample
| type = single
| file = Marillion sugarmice.ogg
}}
}}
"Sugar Mice" is a song by British neo-prog band Marillion. It was released as the second single from their fourth studio album, Clutching at Straws (1987). Released on 13 July 1987, it peaked at number 22 in the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band's eighth top-30 hit in a row.{{cite book |editor=David Roberts |title=British Hit Singles and Albums|year=2006|page=349|publisher=Guinness World Records Limited|isbn=978-1904994107}} Outside the UK, it charted in the Netherlands and West Germany.
Background
A protest song that directly addresses the devastating effect unemployment can have on personal relationships, the track takes the form of a melancholic rock ballad{{cite magazine|title=Single Reviews: Pop|magazine=Billboard|volume=99|issue=36|page=69|date=5 September 1987}} with lyrics from the perspective of a British worker who emigrates to the U.S. to find a job, leaving behind his family. He ends up in despair, drinking in a hotel bar in Milwaukee and blaming the government for leaving him out of work. Lyricist Fish described the background as follows:
I was laying {{sic}} in bed in the Holiday Inn and looking up at the ceiling at some hearts 'n' stuff that some lovers had carved, and I was feeling really down. So I rang my old lady but it was a bad phone call; lots of long silences. I felt even more depressed.{{Cite web |url=http://marillion.baldyslaphead.co.uk/albums/Clutching/Sugar.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=14 September 2011 |archive-date=10 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710180302/http://marillion.baldyslaphead.co.uk/albums/Clutching/Sugar.htm |url-status=dead }}
The first-person narrator sums up his feelings with the metaphor "We're just sugar mice in the rain", which lends the title to the song.{{Cite web|url=http://www.marillion.com/music/lyrics/cas.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110916035604/http://www.marillion.com/music/lyrics/cas.htm|url-status=dead|title=marillion.com | MUSIC – Lyrics – Clutching at Straws | The Official Marillion Website|archive-date=16 September 2011|access-date=25 April 2021}}
Performing "Sugar Mice" at the band's concert Live from Loreley in 1987, Fish dedicated it to "all the unemployed people in Europe today, to the romantics, to the dreamers and to those who still have hearts".
Release
A number of formats were available: 7-inch single, 7-inch picture disc (containing a fold-out sleeve with a poster), 12-inch single, 12-inch picture disc. 3,000 copies of a 5" CD single were produced that were exclusively sold at concerts.{{Cite web |url=http://marillion.ter-steege.com/ |title=Archived copy |access-date=14 September 2011 |archive-date=2 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102141602/http://marillion.ter-steege.com/ |url-status=dead }} The 12-inch and 5-inch CD single featured an extended version of the title track, containing some extra music between the first and second verse. The B-side, "Tux On", is a song that tells the story of a rising rock star who gradually loses touch with reality and finally ends up abusing drugs. A CD replica of the single was also part of a collectors box-set released in July 2000 which contained Marillion's first twelve singles and was re-issued as a 3-CD set in 2009 (see The Singles '82–88').
Cover art
The cover was designed by the band's regular artist Mark Wilkinson. Unlike the covers of the album Clutching at Straws and the first single from it, "Incommunicado", which had been collages based on photographs, this one again featured Wilkinson's signature airbrush style. It shows sugar mice around a cocktail glass, melting from spilled liquid, with a male face in the background.
Track listings
All tracks were written by Derek Dick, Mark Kelly, Ian Mosley, Steve Rothery, and Pete Trewavas.
7-inch single
:A. "Sugar Mice" (album version) – 5:47
:B. "Tux On" – 5:12
7-inch picture disc
:A. "Sugar Mice" (radio edit) – 5:00
:B. "Tux On" – 5:09
12-inch picture disc
:A1. "Sugar Mice" (extended version) – 6:08
:B1. "Sugar Mice" (album version) – 5:45
:B2. "Tux On" – 5:12
CD single
- "Sugar Mice" (radio edit) – 5:00
- "Tux On" – 5:09
- "Sugar Mice" (extended version) – 6:09
Personnel
- Fish – vocals
- Steve Rothery – guitars
- Mark Kelly – keyboards
- Pete Trewavas – bass
- Ian Mosley – drums
Charts
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (1987) !Peak |
| scope="row"|Europe (European Hot 100 Singles){{cite magazine|title=European Hot 100 Singles|magazine=Music & Media|volume=4|issue=31|page=17|date=8 August 1987}}
|68 |
|---|
| {{single chart|Ireland2|17|song=Sugar Mice|rowheader=true|access-date=14 January 2023}} |
| {{single chart|Dutch100|45|artist=Marillion|song=Sugar Mice|rowheader=true|access-date=14 January 2023}} |
| {{single chart|UK|22|date=19870801|rowheader=true|access-date=14 January 2023}} |
| {{single chart|West Germany|59|artist=Marillion|song=Sugar Mice|songid=48372|rowheader=true|access-date=14 January 2023}} |