Man in the Iron Mask

This short and punchy track, Man in the Iron Mask, is one of those that grabs you from the first chord and doesn’t let go until the end. In just three minutes and thirteen seconds, Paul Young manages to condense a dark and sticky atmosphere, where the bass coils around a hypnotic groove and Young’s raspy voice paints a melody that oscillates between melancholy and defiance. It’s not a song that invites you to dance, but to stand still and listen to every detail, as if the narrator were whispering a secret.

It’s part of The Secret of Association, the second album by Paul Young released in 1985, a record that cemented his place in 80s English Pop. Recorded in England, the album blended covers of other artists with original compositions by Young and his keyboardist Ian Kewley, but this song in particular stands out because it carries their signature essence. The album not only topped the charts in the UK but also earned double platinum certification there and gold in the United States, selling over a million copies in total. A fun fact is that, although his massive success came with Everytime You Go Away —a cover of Hall & Oates—, this track proves that Young and Kewley had their own language when it came to original songs.