This was kinda going to be a holiday post but the holidays got busy, as they do, and I didn’t get around to it in time. But considering that the song – despite a certain bit of window dressing – is not a holiday song, that’s probably okay.

“Red Over White” was a Siouxsie & The Banshees song that has had a longer shelf life than most b-sides. It originally appeared in 1980 as the flip side of “Israel”, a non-album single released between Kaleidoscope and Juju, it’s notable as being of the John McGeoch era, but possibly not familiar to the more casual fans. Like myself.

Although a b-side, it featured in live sets of the day, including their April 1981 performance on the Richard Skinner Show for BBC:

And it even made this festival performance at Roskilde in Copenhagen in 1983, by which time McGeoch had left the band and was replaced by The Cure’s Robert Smith:

The band took the song back into the studio in 1984 when they recorded The Thorn EP, intended to inaugurate new guitarist John Carruthers’ tenure. The re-recorded version doesn’t differ too much from the original, except in fidelity and more prominent layers of guitar. The entire Thorn EP was included in the 2004 b-sides and rarities compilation, Downside Up.