Boomtown Rats – Diamond Smiles

I’ve heard of this band a lot and liked I Don’t Like Mondays but I never knew much about them. CB sent me a few links and I really like what I’ve heard. I hear a good mixture of Pub Rock, New Wave, and Punk. They kept that edge of punk and had a great sound. The more I hear from this UK late seventies era the more I like it. With this band, the sound they had on recordings was huge. 

They are an Irish rock band that formed in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, Ireland, in 1975. They were formed by Bob Geldof, Garry Roberts, Gerry Cott, Pete Briquette, Johnnie Fingers, and Simon Crowe. They were influenced by pub rock and punk and they played their first gig in 1975. Originally, they used the name The Nightlife Thugs. The name “The Boomtown Rats” comes from a gang of down-and-out boys from Woody Guthrie’s autobiography Bound for Glory. 

This song was on their album The Fine Art of Surfacing. It was the follow-up single to their biggest hit, “I Don’t Like Mondays.” Bob Geldof said he wrote the lyrics as a critique of superficiality, wealth, and the emptiness of high society life. The song has dynamics that build up from the start. 

The songs on this album sound so fresh and alive. That could be because they were produced by Robert John Mutt Lange who would soon produce AC/DC’s Back In Black. The song peaked at #13  in the UK in 1979. The album peaked at #7 in the UK, #10 in New Zealand, #6 in Canada, and #73 on the Billboard Album Charts. 

They disbanded in 1986 following a charity concert in Ireland. Most of the band members moved on to solo projects or new bands. They reformed in 2013 going on tour again and released a new best of album Back to Boomtown : Classic Rats Hits which includes two new recorded songs.

Diamon Smiles

“Traffic’s wild tonight”Diamond smiles her cocktail smile.Tonight she’s in heavy disquise.She looks at her wrist to clock the passing time.

“Weather’s mild tonight”She wonders do they notice her eyes,She wonders will her glamour survive,And can they see she’s going down a third time.

Everybody tries,It’s Dale Carnegie gone wild,But Barbara Cartland’s childlong ago perfected the motionless glide.

In the low voltage noise,Diamond seems so sure and so poisedShe shimmers for the bright young boys,And laugh’s “Love is for others, but me it destroys”

The girl in the cakeJumped out too soon by mistake,Somebody said the whole things half bakedAnd Diamond lifts her glass and says “cheers”

She stands to the sideThere’s no more to this than meets the eye,Everybody drinks Martini dry,And talks about clothes and the latest styles.

They said she did itWith grace.They said she did itWith style.They said she did it allBefore she diedOh NoI remember Diamond’s smile

Nobody saw her go,They said they should have noticed‘cos her dress was cut so low.Well it only goes to showHa, ha, how many real men any of us know.

She went up the stairs,Stood up on the vanity chair,Tied her lame belt around the chandelier,And went out kicking at the perfumed air.

They said she did itWith grace.They said she did itWith style.They said she did it allBefore she diedOh NoI remember Diamond’s smile

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

36 thoughts on “Boomtown Rats – Diamond Smiles”

  2. Pingback: Boomtown Rats – Diamond Smiles – MobsterTiger

  3. Great record, sadly forgotten these days as the subject-matter didnt quite connect the way Rat Trap and Mondays had, but I pretty much stayed a fan right through to Band Aid and Live Aid. I went to see them on their final tour in 1985-ish and they just couldnt get airplay for the singles off In The Long Grass, but I liked them all and bought the album. Great fun in concert, and Bob Geldof’s outspoken views were always entertaining, not one for holding back on anything….

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    1. Well that one was one of the links he sent me…and I started off with that one which yes…I do like a lot….it was a flip of a coin over which one to cover.

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      2. I’m sure it’s different for everyone…there was a rumor that Paul, George, and Ringo would appear but that didn’t happen lol… but I remember The Who and Queen…those are the two that stuck with me.

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  8. Vaguely remember this one & it’s likely on the Best Of I think I still have here. Like you say, they were good and (much like Elvis Costello) not very punk but got labeled as such. More like a cynical power-pop. They had a sense of humor too- they were great on SCTV

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    1. CB sent me some links like Rat Trap and others…but this one just sounded so good…I told CB they remind me a little of the Buzzcocks…yes a little of power pop/punk/ new wave ….with punk…they did it more lyrically than musically.

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    1. It is hard for me to connect this Bob to the Live Aid Bob.
      I read where they were played in Canada much more than here. I did know them from MTV. Again…I’m a broken record today. It was so many that were good…it was a flip of a coin on what to pick.

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      1. Bob was a music critic Didnt take it to heart) for a local rag. His reviews were great. He didnt pull punches. They were loose like the Replacements. The band had personality. Johnny Fingers and Geldof were a good team. The band was a good time. Similar vibe to the Georgia Satellites.

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      2. Someone else just commented the same thing about him being a music critic in Canada….I read where he was a journalist… had no clue it was there.
        I think they still have mostly original members now. Glad you said that about the Satellites…I would have never guessed that live.

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  10. I’ve got to admit didn’t know much about the Rats, but I remember Geldor being an illigal immigrant working in Vancouver as the editor of the Georgia Staight…..our I guess version of NME? maybe…he would regularly trash bands and claim that he could do better….well, he was eventually deported, the next thing we knew, the Boomtown Rats..

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    1. I did read where he was a music journalist before the band…I had no clue of that. Ok…I was wondering why they were played a lot in Canada but not here…that might have something to do with it… but you guys did get more of the UK late seventies music than we did.

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      1. possibly Nick Gilder and ex Brit had a huge history, a song Roxy Roller was a big hit when he was part of the band Sweeny Tood (Bryan Adams was replaced by Gilder in that band)…he also had hits as a solo act with Hot Child in the City…but, he co-wrote Warrior with the amazing Holly Knight which the band Scandle had a huge hit with, and Pat Benatar covered his Rate X

        Another Brit, Paul Dead played guitar with Loverboy…..and a really cool connection is that the west coast band the Payolas did a song with Ian Hunter (one of the most least appreciated writers of all time) called I think Reckless…

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      2. I do as well…Ian Hunter was great with Mott The Hoople and solo.
        I like Roxy Roller a lot…I haven’t thought of that song in years. The Payolas I’ve heard of…they had to change their name for America because of the payoffs in radio two decades before…it was crazy.

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  13. Pingback: Boomtown Rats – Diamond Smiles – SIRGT

  14. I’m in the same boat. I only know Boomtown Rats because of the Bob Geldorf (Live Aid) connection, as well as their hits “I Don’t Like Mondays,” which I’ve always dug, and “Banana Republic,” which I thought was okay. “Diamond Smiles” sounds pretty good to me. Spontaneously, I think I prefer it over “Banana Republic.”

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