Round and Round (Spandau Ballet song)

Recorded in spring 1984,[1] "Round and Round" was released in the UK on 26 November of that year[2] and peaked at number 18 there.[3] It also reached number 9 in Ireland,[4] number 11 in Italy,[5] number 14 in Spain,[6] number 16 in Australia.[7] and number 37 in the Netherlands.[8]

Lesley White of Smash Hits summed it up as "slick, polished and confident. A hit—with me at least."[9] In a review of Parade for Record Mirror in which she finds little to recommend, Betty Page admitted the song had a "neat turn of melody".[10] Number One's Phil McNeill, however, wrote that band guitarist/songwriter Gary Kemp "seems so obsessed with crafting his little pop gems, he doesn't notice how boring they are" and dismissed "Round and Round" as "well-crafted tedium".[11]

When the band reunited for their comeback tour in 2009, Dave Simpson commented on the song in his review for The Guardian: "Other songs have aged badly – the power ballads sound like they're stuck in an '80s suburban wine bar. However, 'Round and Round'… is hugely poignant."[12]

The concept for the song's music video is the presentation of a school play by children in Key Stage 2. The video begins in the classroom as individual students daydream about the characters in the play: one sees the school headmaster as a vampire; another imagines their teacher as a snow queen. Other scenes involve rehearsals and the parents watching the play in which the boys are mostly monsters and vampires and the girls are dressed as flowers and snow princesses. Spandau Ballet were filmed separately from these scenes on a mostly bare stage with minimal set decoration. Members are shown sporadically throughout as they sing and play instruments alongside various school- and play-related props such as student desks, folding chairs, stacks of books and a blackboard. The entire video was filmed in black and white.

Credits adapted from the liner notes for Parade:[1]