Love Games

Love Games
General Information
Performed by	Belle & The Devotions
Composer(s)	Paul Curtis, Graham Sacher
Lyricist(s)	Paul Curtis, Graham Sacher
Language(s)	English
Eurovision
Year	1984
Country	United Kingdom
Conductor	John Coleman
Final Position	7th
Final Points	63
Preceding and Following Songs
Preceding	I'm Never Giving Up
Following	Love Is

Love Games was the United Kingdom entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 in Luxembourg performed by the girl group Belle & The Devotions.

The song was an homage to the girl group sound of 1960s Motown, with the girls lamenting that their lovers had "played love games" with them and broken their hearts. The trio was dressed in bright day-glo coloured jackets and miniskirts, with similarly eye-popping hair (Rolfe went for a platinum blonde, while the other singers dyed their hair yellow and bright red, respectively).

In the final, the song was performed sixth on the night, following Norway and preceding Cyprus. At the close of voting, it finished in 7th place with 63 points.

It was the first entry to be booed off the stage by the crowd at the contest, some stories say that it was in retaliation to an episode of football hooliganism in the city by rowdy English fans the previous autumn.

Also, it was revealed that members Laura James and Linda Sofield were mostly recruited for their dancing ability while three other girls offstage provided all the vocals.

Lyrics

(You were only playin’ love games)
(You were only playin’ love games, baby)
(You were only playin’ love games)
(You were only playin’ love games, baby)

Why? (Baby, baby, why?)
Why’d you wanna break my heart, babe?
You should have told me from the start, babe
(You should have told me from the start, oh baby)
You should have let me know that you were letting go

Oh, why?
(Baby, baby, why?)
Why’d you wanna break my heart, babe?
When you knew that we were partin’, babe
(Should have told me we were partin’, baby)
Should have let me know, you should have told me so

Oh, darling…
You were only playin’ love games
(You were only playin’ love games, baby)
You were only playin’ love games
(You were only playin’ love games with my heart)

You gave me sugar lovin’ and it stuck like glue
And all this time you had me hooked on you
(Baby, baby)

You were only playin’ love games
(You were only playin’ love games, baby)
You were only makin’ love pains
(You were only makin’ love pains with my heart)

I was just your puppet and you know it’s true
You could snap your fingers and I’d run to you
(Baby, baby)

Oh, why? (Baby, baby, why?)
Why’d you wanna break my heart, babe?
You should have told me at the start, babe
(You should have told me, baby, could have told me)
When you knew all the time that you were never mine

Oh, why? (Baby, baby, why?)
Why’d you wanna break my heart, babe?
When you knew that we would part, babe
(When you knew that we would part, oh baby)
That you would make me cry, that you would say goodbye

Oh, darling…
You were only playin’ love games
(You were only playin’ love games, baby)
You were only playin’ love games
(You were only playin’ love games with my heart)

You gave me sugar lovin’ and it stuck like glue
And all this time you had me hooked on you
(Baby, baby)

You were only playin’ love games
(You were only playin’ love games, baby)
You were only makin’ love pains
(You were only makin’ love pains with my heart)

I was just your puppet and you know it’s true
You could snap your fingers and I’d run to you
(Baby, baby)

You were only playin’ love games
(You were only playin’ love games, baby)
You were only playin’ love games
(You were only playin’ love games with my heart)

You gave me sugar lovin’ and it stuck like glue
And all this time you had me hooked on you
(Baby, baby)

You were only playin’ love games
(You were only playin’ love games, baby)
You were only makin’ love pains
(You were only makin’ love pains with my heart)

I was just your puppet and you know it’s true

Video

Love games - United Kingdom 1984 - Eurovision songs with live orchestra

Belle and the Devotions - Love Games (Eurovision Song Contest 1984, UNITED KINGDOM) preview video