Is He Trying to Hide

Wire : Outdoor Miner (long version)

[Purchase]

On January 21, 1979 Wire's new re-worked single, "Outdoor Miner" b/w "Practice Makes Perfect", entered the UK charts at #51, the highest chart position of any of the band's singles, beating Andy Gibb's new single by 18 spots. The BBC approached the label about getting Wire on Top of the Pops. But by February 11th, "Outdoor Miner" would drop off the charts while Andy Gibb's Top 10 US hit, "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away", would eventually peak at UK#32. Donny and Marie Osmond took Wire's place on the tv programme.

That's what happens when a catchy song turns out to be not about love but about an insect known as a leaf miner.

Face worker, a serpentine miner
A roof falls, an under-liner
Of leaf structure, the egg timer

The single version of "Outdoor Miner" is more than a minute longer than the version that appears on Chairs Missing. Producer Mike Thorne adds some piano. NME reviewers Charles Sharr Murray was unimpressed, writing:

"This record is white and shows the dirt. Its surface is injured but rarely hurt. Guitars twang, keyboards ching, a voice intones. It is 3.55, your reviewer groans. It sounds soft and squishy, I can't hear the words. Time passes, how absurd. This group are overrated your correspondent demurs ... sod it I'm bored."

The #1 song in the U.K. on this date: Ian Dury and the Blockheads "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick".