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Thursday

Writers - Tennant/Lowe/Gleave
First released - 2013
Original album - Electric
Producer - Stuart Price
Subsequent albums - Smash
Other releases - single (UK #61, US Dance #17)

British singer/rapper Example (Elliot John Gleave) appears as a guest on this Electric track, the album's third single (fourth if you count "Axis"). It originated as an instrumental composed by Chris—on a Thursday—that he tentatively titled "A Thursday Night Special," a term that he and his friends used to use to refer to going out on a Thursday night. Neil has described it as a song "of which you could say [it's] from the same group who brought you 'West End Girls.' It has that same sort of sound and atmosphere."

The setting of this song is, indeed, a Thursday evening during which the narrator is trying to trying to persuade a hesitant, vacilating lover to stay with him at least for the upcoming weekend. He would even like to get an early start on it—surely in hopes that, if the weekend goes well, his lover will decide to stay even longer.

In a June 2013 interview with Robbie Daw of Idolator, the Boys said that they had thought early on of including a rap on this track, and had originally downloaded one by Nicki Minaj to include on its rough mix, just to see how it worked. Liking the results, they then discussed among themselves and with producer Stuart Price who might be a good candidate to come up with the new rap that would actually wind up on the finished recording. Since Price was slated for upcoming work with Example, they decided to approach him about it. Fortunately, he was quite keen on the idea. As it turns out, Example himself wrote the words for his rap (thus explaining his co-writing credit by his true surname, Gleave). He sings some lines as well. Chris and Neil weren't even present at his recording session in a Los Angeles studio, but his additions then inspired the Boys later to make further modifications to the track.

Incidentally, Example's isn't the only "bonus" vocalist on this track. Chris also makes a prominent vocal contribution with his recurring "Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday" count-through of the weekend. While after all this time such vocals by Chris are no longer particularly unusual, it is especially nice here given his silence on the preceding album, Elysium.

Mixes/Versions

Officially released

Official but unreleased

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