"If I Was" is a popular song written by Midge Ure

Midge Ure

James "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...

 and Danny Mitchell. It reached #1 on the UK singles chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 for a single week in October 1985. This was Ure's third number one, coming after his success with Slik

Slik

Slik were a Scottish pop group of the mid 1970s, most notable for their UK no.1 hit "Forever and Ever" in 1976. Beginning with glam rock and changing their style to soft rock/bubblegum...

 in 1976 ("Forever and Ever") and Band Aid

Band Aid (band)

Band Aid was a charity supergroup featuring British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. The single...

 in 1984 ("Do They Know It's Christmas?

Do They Know It's Christmas?

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984....

"). The song features Mark King

Mark King (musician)

Mark King is an English musician. He is most famous for being the lead singer and bassist of the band, Level 42. In the early 1980s King popularized the 1970s-era slap and pop style for playing the bass guitar by incorporating it into pop music.-Early life:King was brought up on the Isle of Wight,...

 of Level 42

Level 42

Level 42 are an English pop rock and jazz-funk band who had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s and 1990s.The band gained fame for their high-calibre musicianship—in particular that of Mark King, whose percussive slap-bass guitar technique provided the driving groove of many of the...

 on bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

.

In the sleeve notes for the 2001 compilation

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

 If I Was: The Very Best of Midge Ure & Ultravox Ure wrote:

"This song is pure Danny Mitchell. I found a demo

Demo (music)

A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...

 of it on a cassette

Compact Cassette

The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...

 Danny had sent me for his band The Messengers. I grabbed it with both hands, messed around with it, sprinkled it with fairy dust and the rest is history."

Music video

The music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 famously featured Ure's face patterns on a Pin Art

Pin Art

Pin Art or Pinscreen is an executive toy patented by Ward Fleming. It consists of a boxed surface made of a crowded array of pins that are free to slide in and out independently in a screen to create a three-dimensional relief. Other similar product names are "PinPressions" and "Pinhead"...

 pinscreen.

B-sides

The instrumental "Piano" was released on the B-side of the 7" and 12" singles. The 12" single featured a second track: a cover of David Bowie

David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

's "The Man Who Sold the World

The Man Who Sold the World

The Man Who Sold the World is the third studio album by David Bowie. It was originally released on Mercury Records in November 1970 in the United States and in April 1971 in the UK. The album was Bowie's first with the nucleus of what would become the "Spiders from Mars", the backing band made...

", originally released on the film soundtrack of Party Party (1983). Both songs were added as bonus tracks to the CD reissue of The Gift

The Gift (Midge Ure album)

The Gift, released in 1985, is the first solo album by former Ultravox frontman Midge Ure. The album was released while Ultravox was taking a break; the band would go on to release U-Vox before splitting...

in 1996.

Chart performance

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Chart (1985/1986)	Peak position
Ireland (IRMA Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... )	1

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