Behind the Songs: Come All Ye Faithful

A selection of quotes from The Psychedelic Furs on the song "Come All Ye Faithful".

Richard Butler: "With regard to 'Come All Ye Faithful', I remember singing the hymn in school, and the idea of using it for a song title that was completely secular sounded like a good idea." (Hot Press 2020)

Tim Butler: "That one I [inaudible] for being an idea that came from Rich Good. That was one of his ideas. I think Richard, [inaudible] he liked the vibe of it. He thought the vibe of it – I don't know if you've ever heard of a David Essex song called 'Lamplight.' It had that really menacing – it's a sinister menacing sound. It got Richard into the vibe of it and which direction he was gonna go, lyrically." (Interview with Kyle Meredith, 2020)

Tim Butler: "One song, 'Come All Ye Faithful'–that chord structure, when Richard brought it in it, was reminiscent of the vibe of a song called 'Lamplight,' by David Essex from the'70s, so we sort of carried on and added to that vibe." (The Pitch 2020)

Richard Butler: "Remember that old David Essex single 'Lamplight'? The one which came after 'Rock On'? Oh, this sounds terrible, but I always loved the creepy feeling of it. I wanted this to have some of that. I mean, it wasn't led by 'the influence of a David Essex song', but once we'd got it going, I could hear that within it, and thought, Okay, let's get it nice and creepy... so we stuck a church bell in there." (Record Collector 2020)

Richard Butler: "It's a bit about looking for redemption in faith and riches, questioning if either are of any true value and whether redemption is ultimately necessary at all." (Rolling Stone 2020)

Richard Butler: "'Come all ye faithful you holy rollers'... it's a lot about people looking down on you for a lack of faith." (Songfacts 2020)

Tim Butler: "That song was actually written by Richard and by Rich our 'new' guitarist, who's actually been with us since 2008. Richard wanted the vibe of it to be like the song by David Essex called 'Lamplight'. The vibe of it set Richard off, lyrically. It's sort of menacing and very moody. That gave us a musical direction to go. And so, it's a moody, menacing song." (Tower Records 2020)