B02.06 The Riddle
In 2003, Nik Kershaw gives details about this song ( https://web.archive.org/web/20030207104733/http://www.nikkershaw.net/theriddle.shtml#10 ):
What's the answer to "The Riddle"?
"It amazes me that people are still asking me this question. I spilled the beans a few years ago now so this isn't exactly news.
My producer (Peter Collins) came over to my house just before we commenced recording on the second album to hear how I was getting on with the writing. He went away saying he thought it sounded great but didn't think I had the first single. Incensed by this, I went straight up to the spare room and got the chords and melody together for the Riddle. This must've taken all of twenty minutes. Knowing time was short before we started recording I jotted down some jibberish with the intention of writing the real lyric as we were recording it.
About a week later we started recording and I threw a rough guide vocal down using the jibberish lyrics. As the album progressed, I tried various different lyric ideas but nothing seemed to fit as well as the guide lyric. So we decided to stick with what we had. "Let's call it the Riddle", I thought. Then people would think it was actually about something.
I had completely underestimated the fuss this would cause and, to make matters worse, the marketing and promotions people at MCA decided to make a competition out of it (without telling me). The response was unbelievable. We got sack loads of mail with elaborate and detailed analysis of the song. Line by line, word by word. Some were the size of small novels. Some even made sense!! People stopped me in the street to give me their thoughts and theories. On one occasion I arrived to do a live Radio 1 interview with a certain DJ only to find he'd told the great British public that I would be "revealing all" on his show. He was most put out when I wouldn't (couldn't) co-operate.
It all got a bit out of hand and, very quickly, passed the point at which I could come clean without pissing off a lot of people.
In short, "The Riddle" is nonsense, rubbish, bollocks, the confused ramblings of an 80's popstar.
Please forgive me. I knew not what I did".
In 2012, a podcast interview with Sodajerker was recorded. You can listen it it HERE.
Nik Kershaw gives some details about how The Riddle was written (starts at 20:30).
"[By the time we get to a song like The Riddle, you really seem to have taken the interest and verse sequences to another extreme. There's a lot to The Riddle yet it seems so logical, like a path you have to follow. What came first with that one? Was it the main harmonized riff or some other section?].
It was the main theme, it was the main tune and that chord progression really. I took it halfway through the verse and I can't just keep doing this, I'm getting bored now so I'm going to have to change a bit and it just sort of shifts up. It seems to shift up a semi tone and then come back down again. But that was written very quickly. I just wrote the music because I only had two weeks to write the whole of The Riddle album apart from the wide boy from previously (...) but yeah the rest of the tracks seriously were written in two weeks. That was the last one to go because the producer came over to the house and listened to the tracks and couldn't hear a single so literally the last day of those two weeks I put the tune together for The Riddle. It just seemed a very natural thing. It just sort of flowed through. But the lyric, I didn't have a clue what it was about so I just kind of made it a load of nonsense. It's fully intending to rewrite it mind you but it never got rewritten basically, it's a short version of that story".
Album version (3:54)
Available on the 1984 The Riddle album (vinyl LP, tape, CD and online digital file) and on the 1984 NIK6, NIKP6 "The Riddle" 7" singles and NIKC6 "The Riddle" limited cassette single.
Note that this song is track A1 on the 1984 US release of "The Riddle" album (Tape & Vinyl).
This version is also available on many collections.
bpm speed is slightly different on some collections resulting in different track length of the same mix of the song.
1991 The Collection (Track 4 - 3:53)
1993 Best Of NK (Track 2 - 3:51 - slightly shorter fade-in)
1995 Anthology (Track 11 - 3:54)
1998 Greatest Hits (Track 4 - 3:53)
2000 The Essential (Track 4 - 3:53 - slightly shorter fade-in)
2001 I Won't Let the Sun Go Down On Me (Track 4 - 3:53 - slightly shorter fade-in)
2005 Then & Now (Track 5 - 3:53 - slightly longer fade-in)
2022 Essential Nik Kershaw (Track 2 - Disc 2 - 3:51 - slightly longer fade-in)
Also released as track 5 on the A side (first vinyl record) of the 2023 "Collected" vinyl collection.
And :
1988 "One Step Ahead" CD single
1991 "Wouldn't It Be Good" (NIK14) CD single
A remastered version was released for the first time on the 2013 "The Riddle" album double CD and online digital file.
The remastered version was also released on February 21st 2025 as track 6 of Disc 2 ("The Riddle" album) from the MCA YEARS box set.
The soundtrack of the 1984 video clip is the same album version with a music-less introduction.
There are two different versions of the video clip (same soundtrack but different choice of scenes here and there).
First one can be watched HERE.
Second one can be watched HERE.
A remastered version of the first video was released on February 21st 2025 on the unique DVD from the MCA YEARS box set.
Extended Riddle / Special Extended Mix (5:09)
This Extended version was released on the 1984 NIKT6 "The Riddle" 12" single.
A remastered version was released for the first time as track 2 on disc 2 of the 2013 "The Riddle" album double CD and online digital file.
Also available as track 5 on disc 3 of the 2022 "Essential Nik Kershaw" collection.
Also released as track 16 of the 2022 online only "Extended Versions" collection.
Also released as track 1 on the F side (third vinyl record) of the 2023 "Collected" vinyl collection limited edition only.
The remastered version was also released on February 21st 2025 as track 9 of Disc 6 ("Extended Mixes and Remixes" CD) from the MCA YEARS box set.
'99 Acoustic - Live (4:46)
This version was released on the 1999 "Somebody Loves You" CD Single and as a bonus track on the "UNE U1015.2" and "RCCY-1064" releases of the 1999 "15 Minutes" album.
Also available as track 1 on the 2006 "The Riddle" CD album (which is in fact a re-issue of the "15 Minutes" album with two acoustic bonus tracks as tracks 1 and 2).
Acoustic Version (3:22)
This version can be found as track 6 on the 2010 "No Frills" collection album.
80's Classical Version (4:01)
This version was recorded with the Orchestra of Opera North.
It was released as track 9 on the "80's Classical - Volume 1" album.
[Listen to it HERE]
Live at the Hammersmith Odeon 1984 (4:13 // 4:17 // 4:42)
This live version was recorded on December 31st 1984 at the Hammersmith Odeon, London (England).
And there are three different recordings of it.
The first one is that of the VHS video released in 1985.
An audio only recording was also released on February 21st 2025 as track 10 of Disc 9 ("Live at the Hammersmith Odeon - Disc One") from the MCA YEARS box set.
Note that the audio only version has a fade-in and a fade-out.
A remastered video version was released as track 10 on February 21st 2025 on the unique DVD from the MCA YEARS box set.
The track doesn't end with a fade out but with a BBC2 announcer talking to the audience for about 30 seconds.
Live Aid 1985 (4:11)
This live version was released on vinyl record (fourth LP of a 12 record-pack).
NOT AVAILABLE on CD.
Available on Internet digital format.
[Listen to it HERE]
Live at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire 2012 (4:31)
Another official live version of the song, recorded in Shepherd's Bush Empire in London (England) on September 28th 2012, can be found on the 2013 DVD release of the concert.
Live at the Morning Show, Australian TV, October 15th 2013 (4:31)
On October 15th 2013, Nik Kershaw performed a live duet version of his song with Kim Wilde at the Morning Show, for Australian TV.
An mp3 version of this performance was released as track 5 of Kim Wilde's free "Acoustic Christmas EP" on her official fansite.
A live video can be seen HERE.
NOT AVAILABLE on any official CD.