Siouxsie & The Banshees – Peek-A-Boo

Released in 1988, “Peek-A-Boo” was the first single from Siouxsie & The Banshees’ ninth studio album, Peepshow. It marked an adventurous new phase for the band, combining their alternative rock roots with elements of dance music, cabaret, pop and experimental production. The result was one of their most unusual and immediately recognisable recordings.

The song grew from an experimental studio idea involving reversed recordings, with the band manipulating an existing brass and drum arrangement before adding new instrumentation. Accordion, cello, guitar, bass and percussion were layered into the unusual backing, creating a strange, theatrical sound that seemed to constantly shift beneath Siouxsie Sioux’s distinctive vocal. The use of different microphones for individual vocal lines added another unusual production effect, giving her voice an almost fragmented quality.

Lyrically, “Peek-A-Boo” explores themes of objectification, performance and manipulation, using provocative imagery to create an unsettling picture of a woman trapped within a theatrical world of desire and exploitation. Siouxsie delivers the words with a mixture of detachment, menace and playful theatricality, perfectly matching the eccentric arrangement.

The song also contained a playful nod to the 1938 standard “Jeepers Creepers”, resulting in Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer receiving songwriting credit alongside the Banshees.

“Peek-A-Boo” remains one of Siouxsie & The Banshees’ most inventive recordings, demonstrating their willingness to experiment while creating something catchy, strange and unmistakably their own.

The song peaked at No. 16 in the UK charts on 6th August 1988.