Songs to Learn & Sing

Songs to Learn & Sing was first released as an LP, a cassette and a CD by Korova in the United Kingdom, WEA in Germany and Sire Records in the United States on 15 November 1985. The album was also available as a limited edition picture disc and a limited edition album with a copy of the "Pictures on My Wall" single.

The album includes songs in chronological order taken from the band's four studio albums that had been released up to that point, as well as the previously unreleased "Bring On the Dancing Horses", slated for the John Hughes film Pretty in Pink (1986).^[5] It also includes the non-album singles "The Puppet" and "Never Stop". "Bring On the Dancing Horses" was released as a single on 14 November 1985. It reached number 21 on the UK singles chart^[4] and number 15 on the Irish Singles Chart.^[6]

MacKenzie Wilson of AllMusic rated Songs to Learn & Sing four and a half stars out of five and described it as "a solid and comprehensive collection of the band's material".^[7] The album reached number 6 on the UK Albums Chart^[4] and number 158 on the US Billboard 200.^[5] In 1993, it was featured in Rock Compact Disc magazine's list of 45 classic "British Indie Guitar Rock" albums.^[8]

All words by Ian McCulloch. All music composed by McCulloch, Will Sergeant, Les Pattinson and Pete de Freitas.

Echo & the Bunnymen

• Will Sergeant – guitar
• Ian McCulloch – vocals
• Les Pattinson – basses
• Pete de Freitas – drums
• The Bunnymen – all other instruments

Technical

• Ian Broudie – producer ("Rescue", "The Back of Love", "The Cutter")
• The Chameleons (David Balfe and Bill Drummond) – producers ("The Puppet", "Do It Clean")
• Hugh Jones – producer ("A Promise", "Never Stop")
• The Bunnymen – producers ("The Killing Moon", "Silver", "Seven Seas"); associate producers ("A Promise", "Never Stop")
• David Lord – engineer ("The Killing Moon")
• Laurie Latham – producer ("Bring On the Dancing Horses")
• Anton Corbijn – photography
• X=X – design