“Stand and Deliver” is a song by English new wave band Adam and the Ants (Adam Ant), released as the lead single from their third studio album, Prince Charming (1981). The song entered the UK Singles Chart at number one on 9 May 1981, and remained there for five weeks. It has sold 1.03 million copies in the UK. On the US Dance chart, “Stand and Deliver” peaked at #38, (along with the B side, “Beat My Guest”). In 2008, it was featured as part of the Burnout Paradise soundtrack. In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation’s 15th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV.
Copies of the single “Stand and Deliver” b/w “Beat My Guest” were included as a free bonus item with some vinyl copies of the US version of the album Kings of the Wild Frontier on Epic Records. Epic’s cassette edition appended the two tracks to each end of either side of the tape. “Stand and Deliver” was then featured on their follow-up LP, Prince Charming, released in November 1981. The phrase “stand and deliver – your money or your life”, used in the lyrics, is commonly associated with highwaymen in 18th century England.
This version was recorded in Philadelphia in 2017 – and Adam Ant looked just as good as I remembered him from my youth!
Adam Ant – Stand and Deliver
