XTC
Respectable Street
Single UK 1981 on Virgin label
Alternative (New Wave, Pop Rock)
'℗+ © 1981 Virgin Records Limited'
Track A recorded at the Townhouse Studios, London, England, Summer 1980. It is the edited, BBC-directed version which differs from the LP version. Timing on label is for LP version, but this is incorrect. Timing listed above is correct. Released on 13 March 1981 as a single in the U.K.; also available on Rag & Bone Buffet; also available on the 2017 reissue of Black Sea.
According to Andy Partridge, “The BBC felt the lyrics on the song on Black Sea would upset people. They asked if I could rewrite it and, being a good boy, I did. Contraception became ‘child prevention’ and abortion became ‘absorption’. Still they wouldn't play it.”