Kid Gloves (Marmaduke Duke song)

"Kid Gloves"
Single by Marmaduke Duke
from the album Duke Pandemonium
Released2 March 2009 (2009-03-02)
Genre
Length3:30
Label14th Floor
Songwriters
Producers
  • JP Reid
  • Simon Neil
Marmaduke Duke singles chronology
"Kid Gloves"
(2009)
"Rubber Lover"
(2009)

"Kid Gloves" is a 2009 single released by Scottish band Marmaduke Duke as the lead single from their second studio album Duke Pandemonium (2009). A remix of the song was created by Russell Leetch, which NME described as "should help to cheer up those smokers outside the hospital doors".[1] Commercially, it debuted at number twelve on the UK Physical Singles Charts,[2] and at number four on the singles charts in their native Scotland.[3]

Background

"Kid Gloves" has been described as the band members' favourite, claiming "it's a highly emotional and beautiful song".[4] Loud and Quiet said that the songs lyrics, particularly, "Are we crazy or are we glad? Keep your instincts to make a stand Keep on searching for what we had To remind us all", goes "its ambiguous but resolute refrain, capable of being interpreted a thousand different ways".[4] Loud and Quiet described the song as "not the sound that you’d expect to be produced by a pair of tattooed beards".[4]

Simon Neil said that "Kid Gloves" was "a lot more cohesive" than the sound the band produced for their debut album, The Magnificent Duke (2005), and said that "it's a dance record really – or our attempt to make a dance record".[5] NME described the song as "an electronic horizon", in which the band "come up with three dreamlike minutes of pop wonderment".[6]

Reception

Female First magazine described the song as "crafted with precision and love", and that it "doesn't disappoint one bit".[7] The BBC said that, "understandably", the success the band experienced with the single "took them by surprise".[8]

Track listings

  • 7″ single (UK)
  1. "Kid Gloves" – 3:30
  2. "New York Telephone Conversation Part 2 (Without Bowie)" – 1:41
  3. "Kid Gloves (For Boys)" – 3:30

Charts

Chart performance for "Kid Gloves"
Chart (2009) Peak
position
Scotland (OCC)[3] 4
UK Physical Singles (OCC)[2] 12

References

  1. ^ Chester, Tim (14 April 2009). "Marmaduke Duke - Kid Gloves - Free Remix MP3". NME. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  2. ^ a b "KID GLOVES". Official Charts. 14 March 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart on 8/3/2009". Official Charts. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  4. ^ a b c "How Biffy Clyro's Simon Neil and JP Reid turned three secret manuscripts into Marmaduke Duke". Loud And Quiet. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  5. ^ Mainwaring, Ben (11 February 2009). "DiS meets Simon Neil in his Marmaduke Duke guise". DrownedInSound. Archived from the original on 26 April 2025. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  6. ^ "Live Review: Marmaduke Duke". NME. 23 March 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  7. ^ "Single Review: Marmaduke Duke - Kid Gloves". Female First. 13 January 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  8. ^ "Marmaduke Duke: Biffy's 'liberating' fun". BBC. 23 April 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2025.