"One Better Day" is a song by British band Madness

Madness (band)

In 1979, the band recorded the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince". The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts...

 from their 1984 album Keep Moving

Keep Moving

Keep Moving is the fifth album by the British ska band Madness from 1984. It was the last Madness album prior to their 1999 comeback album Wonderful to feature Mike Barson....

. The song was written by Graham McPherson and Mark Bedford

Mark Bedford

Mark Bedford , nicknamed 'Bedders', is a bass guitarist and former member of the band Madness....

. The song was released as a single in the UK, and spent 7 weeks in British charts peaking at number 18.

The single was a last minute choice, as "Victoria Gardens" from the same album was originally slated to be the album's second single. The remixed version of "Victoria Gardens" intended for the A-side was instead included as a bonus track on the 12" single. This was the last single under the Stiff Records

Stiff Records

Stiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976, by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....

 label, before the band's creation of their own label, Zarjazz Records.

Music video

As the single was the final release under Stiff Records, the label did not want to film an accompanying music video, and the band had to fund it themselves. Mike Barson

Mike Barson

Michael "Mike" Barson is a British musician, best known as a founding member and keyboardist of the second wave ska band, Madness.-Biography:...

 flew from Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 especially to be a part of the video. The resulting music video was filmed in Arlington Road, just outside "Arlington House". Incidentally, "Arlington House" is the first line of the song, and was a local homeless refuge, one of the Rowton Houses

Rowton Houses

Rowton Houses were a chain of hostels built in London, England by the Victorian philanthropist Lord Rowton to provide decent accommodation for working men in place of the squalid lodging houses of the time....

.

Most of the video shows the band members as homeless people, except a few clips showing them performing the song. It also shows Suggs

Suggs (singer)

Graham McPherson , better known as Suggs, is an English singer, actor, former radio DJ, TV personality, and most famous as the frontman of the band Madness.-Early life:...

 dancing with his wife Bette Bright

Bette Bright

Bette Bright is an English rock singer.-Career:In the late 1970s Bright was a singer for the art rock band Deaf School. After Deaf School disbanded, Bright went solo with her backing band, 'The Illuminations'. Band members were Henry Priestman , Rusty Egan and Glen Matlock...

, who plays a homeless woman in the video.

Appearances

In addition to its single release and appearance on the album Keep Moving, "One Better Day" also appears on the Madness collections Divine Madness

Divine Madness (Madness album)

Divine Madness is the 1992 greatest hits album from the British ska/pop band Madness. It presents the group's single A-sides in chronological order, though sometimes in their LP rather than single versions....

(a.k.a. The Heavy Heavy Hits), Utter Madness

Utter Madness

Utter Madness is a greatest hits album by the British pop band Madness, released in 1986 at the time of their original split. It is a sequel of sorts to their earlier compilation Complete Madness and comprises songs from the latter half of their career...

, Total Madness

Total Madness - the Very Best of Madness

Total Madness - the Very Best of Madness is a greatest hits album by a British ska/pop band Madness. It was released in 1997 in United States only.-Track listing:# "Our House"# "It Must Be Love"# "Tomorrow's "# "Shut Up"# "Grey Day"...

, The Business

The Business - the Definitive Singles Collection

The Business – the Definitive Singles Collection is a 3 disc box set by ska/pop band Madness released in 1993 . It contained all the band's singles up until that point with their respective b-sides and other bonus tracks, some rare. It also includes a 52 page booklet and snippets of interviews with...

and Our House: the Best of Madness. It did not appear on any of the band's US compilations.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "One Better Day".

• 7" Single

1. "One Better Day" (McPherson
   Suggs (singer)
   Graham McPherson , better known as Suggs, is an English singer, actor, former radio DJ, TV personality, and most famous as the frontman of the band Madness.-Early life:...
   
   /Bedford
   Mark Bedford
   Mark Bedford , nicknamed 'Bedders', is a bass guitarist and former member of the band Madness....
   
   ) - 4:06
2. "Guns" (McPherson) - 3:14

• 12" Single

1. "One Better Day" (McPherson/Bedford) - 4:06
2. "Guns" (McPherson) - 3:14
3. "Victoria Gardens" (Smyth
   Chas Smash
   Cathal Smyth, also known as Chas Smash is an English musician, best known as the backing singer and dancer in the ska/pop band Madness. He also plays trumpet, acoustic guitar and various percussion instruments...
   
   /Barson
   Mike Barson
   Michael "Mike" Barson is a British musician, best known as a founding member and keyboardist of the second wave ska band, Madness.-Biography:...
   
   /Smyth) - 4:01
4. "Sarah" (Thompson
   Lee Jay Thompson
   Lee Jay Thompson , nicknamed Kix or El Thommo, is an English musician, best known as the saxophonist and songwriter of the second wave ska band, Madness....
   
   /Madness) - 3:43