Jona Lewie - "Kitchen at Parties"

"Kitchen At Parties"

The 1980 song and Lewie’s first hit record, "Kitchen at Parties", was written for Stiff Records by Jona Lewie (melody) and Keef Trouble (lyrics) for the album, On the Other Hand There's a Fist. The song became a UK no. 16 single hit record. Lewie added a new story-line ending to Trouble’s lyrics. He wrote the melody on a multi-timbre polyphonic Polymoog in his home 8-track studio, and played on and recorded the backing track entirely himself, apart from bass guitar from Norman Watt-Roy) and additional hi-hat percussion from Bob Andrews. The female backing vocal in the song’s chorus were the wives of Andrews and Dave Robinson (the owner of Stiff Records). However, Karen O'Brien's official biography, Kirsty MacColl: The One and Only, claimed this as MacColl's first vocal backing recording for Stiff Records.

This song also appeared in the background of the party in The Young Ones episode, "Interesting".

In 2010, the track was used to advertise Ikea's kitchens. The advert, the full version of which ran to three minutes, featured the group Man Like Me walking around a party in a house comprising only kitchens while singing a new version of the song. Lewie himself appeared as the host of the party.