Following the demise of the band Brinsley Schwarz, Lowe had formed the
ad hoc band Spick Ace & the Blue Sharks with
Martin Stone of
The Pink Fairies and members of
Dr. Feelgood. Contractual difficulties prevented their recordings being released and despite manager
Jake Riviera's efforts record companies were not interested in signing Lowe as a solo artist. The single was released on 14 August 1976 with the catalogue number Stiff BUY1. The single was marketed through specialist shops and by mail order. The record has the following messages in the run out grooves: "Earthlings Awake" and "Three Chord Trick Yeh". The song was written while Lowe was tour-managing
Graham Parker & The Rumour who were opening for
Thin Lizzy. He said, "I remember "
The Boys Are Back in Town" playing all the time on that tour. It had this little descending thing that just got under my skin and I started singing 'and so it goes, so it goes, so it goes' while I was walking around doing my tour manager duties. The song isn't really about much. It's a bunch of interesting words strung together." ==Reception==