The Riddle lyrics are 'just nonsense' admits singer

Nik Kershaw in November 1984, the same year The Riddle was released

The hit 1984 song The Riddle by Nik Kershaw was just "nonsense" lyrics, the singer/songwriter has confirmed.

Kershaw, who grew up in Ipswich, had a string of global hits 40 years ago including The Riddle which he said wrote in just 10 minutes and quickly added the words as a guide.

He said he "always intended to rewrite them, but we just got used to the nonsense" so stuck with them.

"There was a period of time I could not admit it as there would have been a lots of angry people," he said.

Nik Kershaw is due to tour the country and Europe for the rest of this year and into early 2025

The Riddle, his second solo studio album, was released in November 1984 and peaked at number eight in the UK album charts.

The single of the same name got to number three.

"In 1984 I had two albums out [ the other was Human Racing] within nine months of each other, so I literally had about two weeks to write nine songs for The Riddle and the last song out the bag was The Riddle," said Nik.

"My producer came over and he listened to the track and he said they're all good but I don't hear a single.

"He went away and I wrote The Riddle literally in about 10 minutes, the tune came really quickly but I take ages to write lyrics."

He said he wrote lyrics that included "near a tree by a river, there's a hole in the ground - where an old man of Aran goes around and around" as a guide so it could be demoed.

A week later he went into the studio to lay the track down.

"I put this guide vocal down with these nonsense lyrics, always intending to rewrite them," he said.

"I tried a couple of times to rewrite the lyrics but we just got so used to the nonsense and the way it sounded, nothing ever sounded right so we just stuck with the nonsense."

The singer, who also wrote number one single The One & Only for Chesney Hawkes, said the next issue was working out what to name the track.

"I'll call it The Riddle then people will think it's about something," he said.

"Little did I know the kind of response I was going to get and I would have to explain, at some point, what The Riddle meant.

"It's like a Whiter Shade of Pale, it's one of those word salad songs."