Prefab Sprout were signed to
Kitchenware Records after label boss Keith Armstrong heard their first single, the self-released "
Lions in My Own Garden (Exit Someone)" (1982), playing in the
Newcastle branch of
HMV he managed. "The Devil Has All the Best Tunes" was the band's first single on Kitchenware, and their first since
Wendy Smith joined the band. Smith's backing vocals feature heavily on the song. '
The Devil has all the best tunes' is an expression referring to
secular music. The first known use of the phrase in print is in the December 1773 edition of the
Monthly Review: "They (the
Moravians and
Methodists) have adopted the music of some of our finest songs... ...and they have given good reasons for so doing: for, as
Whitefield said, 'Why should the devil have all the best tunes?'". Though this text credits the expression to the English
Anglican cleric George Whitefield, it is now commonly attributed to the English
evangelist and
hymn writer Rowland Hill (1744–1833). Hill used the expression in reference to
Charles Wesley's habit of setting his hymns to popular secular tunes. The phrase was later popularised by
William Booth to promote the
Salvation Army.
Paddy McAloon liked the phrase, and used it as a starting point for the song. According to music journalist
Chris Heath, "The Devil Has All the Best Tunes" is "an intricate web of melodies and voices". Paddy McAloon stated in a 1984 interview "I really wanted to do was a kind of musical boast... ..."The Devil has all the best tunes? No he hasn’t!", that's why it swirls with all kinds of different melodies, clarinets". In addition to
guitar,
bass,
drums and
clarinet, the song utilises
piano and
glockenspiel. According to McAloon, most around the band considered the song too long and not catchy enough for single release. McAloon wrote the
B-side "Walk On" when he was 18. ==Release==