“Reasons To Be Miserable” was released in 1981 in the UK only. It was the ‘A’-Side of 45 RPM 7 inch release called The Double ‘B’-Side on Depressive Discs (Polydor).

The part of Marvin is voiced by Stephen Moore, the same actor that voiced the emotionally disturbed android in the 1981 BBC Television miniseries based on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy series of novels and stories by Douglas Adams. If you are a fan of the books or the movie, I highly recommend that you check out the BBC TV miniseries. It’s brilliant and campy. I love it. Here is a clip from the series.

You can also check out the BBC Radio series that was first broadcast in 1978.

The song involves Marvin describing his views on life (“I’d feel a little better if they broke me up for spares”, “If I had my time again, I’d rather be a lemming”), to a rather clever synthpop backing track.

Apparently the title is a reference to the hit song “Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3” by Ian Dury and The Blockheads.

You can still find copies of the record for sale today on the secondary market but the prices are kind of out there.

images courtesy of discogs