Ann's two albums, I thought she'd like the sentiments of the song rather than approve of the rhythmics. I knew she was stroppy, but it's positive. She saw she'd be giving her counsel to a completely different audience – teenagers. Which I think is great. It complements what we've done on the other side." The single's sleeve reinforced the point being made in the lyrics: fragments of the label of Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools" single and a section of Écrits by French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist Jacques Lacan with the word "chain" prominent in both, superimposed on a picture of Shirley MacLaine from the film My Geisha (1962) dressed as a bride and wearing an expression of resignation on her face. Although Scritti Politti had embraced the musical mainstream, Gartside's lyrics were often still preoccupied with the contradiction of becoming more distant from the reality of a person the more one became in love with the idealised version of that person, summed up on the album track "A Little Knowledge" by the line "Now I know to love you is not to know you". This contradiction was reflected in the album's title, referring to the myth of the two ancient Greek gods who were destined to never be able to truly love each other. Gartside explained in interviews that "there is a fable, the myth of Cupid and Psyche, and the deal was that they would stay in love as long as they never tried too hard to find out too much about each other – they should just enjoy each other's company and not make demands. But that's what they made the mistake of doing, so Cupid fled, for some reason, and Psyche was sent around the world for eternity to find him. Although, at the very end of the legend, they do get reconciled... But in our society, Cupid has now come to stand for 'romance' and Psyche for 'hidden lurking depths', so of course it would've been preposterous to call the album Cupid and Psyche. But putting '85 after it makes it... perfectly cool. It makes it awfully sensible." Critical reception Reviews for Cupid & Psyche 85 were generally positive. Melody Maker said, "It may not be the sweetest sound in all the world... but it's close. In pursuit of the silkier sensations to be cut from the sow's ear of pop, Scritti's Green has finally let