Girls & Boys (Blur song)


"Girls & Boys" is a 1994 song by British rock band Blur. It was released as the lead single from the group's third album, Parklife. Charting at number 5 on the UK Singles Chart, "Girls & Boys" was Blur's first top 5 hit and their most successful single until "Country House" reached number 1 the following year. The single surpassed their previous commercial peak "There's No Other Way" by three spots on the UK Singles Chart, and saw the group achieve greater worldwide success. In the US, the track reached number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, becoming the band's second single to hit the chart after "There's No Other Way". It also reached number 4 on the Modern Rock songs chart.

Composition

was inspired to write the song when he vacationed in Magaluf, Spain, with then-girlfriend Justine Frischmann. According to Albarn, the city had "really tacky Essex nightclubs" and a rampant sexual scene among visitors, with "All these blokes and all these girls meeting at the watering hole and then just copulating. There's no morality involved, I'm not saying it should or shouldn't happen." The music has a convergence of various pop and dance styles, summed up by bassist Alex James as "Disco drums, nasty guitars and Duran Duran bass." Drummer Dave Rowntree admitted he is not on the track, being replaced by a drum machine he programmed. Thus he said it was his favourite song on because he "isn't really in it. It's cool not being in your own song." The vocals were recorded with a demo featuring only the keyboards.

Video

The video, directed by Kevin Godley, featured Blur performing the song against a bluescreen backdrop of documentary footage of people on Club 18-30 package holidays. Godley branded the video as "Page 3 rubbish" while Blur found it "perfect". The front cover of the single was taken from a pack of Durex condoms.

Reception

Producer Stephen Street felt that while "Girls & Boys" was not like Blur's previous songs, "I thought it would be Top 5 – it was so downright basic. I felt the way I had when I produced the Smiths: that as long as Morrissey was singing on it, it would be the Smiths. It was the same with Blur: they could put their hands to anything, and it would still sound like Blur." The song indeed reached number 5 on the UK Singles Chart, Blur's first foray into the top 5. Despite the band having big expectations for the single, guitarist Graham Coxon said "going top five was a bit of a shocker", and Albarn confessed to having his first panic attack shortly after the single entered the charts.
In 1994, "Girls & Boys" was named single of the year by NME and Melody Maker. It was also nominated for best song at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine described the song as "undeniably catchy" and "one of the best Blur ever recorded", praising the band for making the song "feel exactly like Eurotrash", and specifying that the chorus's reference to "girls who are boys/who like boys to be girls/who do boys like they're girls/who do girls like they're boys" is "an absolutely devastating put-down of '90s gender-bending, where even ambi-sexuals didn't know whose fantasy they were fulfilling." Larry Flick from Billboard wrote, "Alternative band takes a detour into clubland with an amusing, word-twisting ditty fleshed out with a trance-like synth energy and a hard, syncopated beat, courtesy of the Pet Shop Boys. Way-hip single's primary selling point is the brain-numbing refrain "girls who want boys like boys to be girls who do boys like they're girls who do girls like they're boys." Try saying that three times fast. A good bet for dancefloor action, track should also get a crack at pop/crossover radio." Matt Stopera and Brian Galindo from BuzzFeed said the song is "a great reminder of just how brilliant Blur was throughout the '90s." John Kilgo from The Network Forty described it as an "outstanding, infectious" tune. James Hunter from Vibe called it a "brilliant turn on new wave disco that boasts the year's best bent guitars. They bounce all this into a great English, um, blur."

Legacy

The song is included on two compilations albums: ' and '.
Pet Shop Boys, who provided a remix of the track for the single release, later covered the song during their Discovery tour in 1994. Their remix was also included on the Japanese version of the Parklife album.
Hong Kong pop duo Tat Ming Pair covered it on their 1997 live concert album 萬歲萬歲萬萬歲演唱會.
In 2003, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke confessed on BBC Radio 1 that he wished he had written the song, jokingly calling Blur "bastards" for writing it first.
In 2007, electronic band Blaqk Audio released a cover of the song as a Hot Topic exclusive bonus track for their debut album CexCells. The song was covered by the French singer Mélanie Pain in her 2009 album My Name. American alternative rock band The Get Up Kids performed a version of the song in July 2011 for The A.V. Club A.V. Undercover series. It was also featured in the Wii game Just Dance and on the Xbox 360 Kinect title Dance Central as a downloadable song off Xbox Live.
In 2010, Pitchfork included the song at number 26 on their Top 200 Tracks of the 90s.
"Blurred" by Pianoman features the chorus as its key lyric. The single peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart in 1996.

Track listings

All music composed by Albarn, Coxon, James and Rowntree. All lyrics composed by Albarn, with the exception of "Maggie May" written by Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton.
7" and Cassette
  1. "Girls & Boys" – 4:20
  2. "Magpie" – 4:15
  3. "People in Europe" – 3:28
CD1
  1. "Girls & Boys" – 4:20
  2. "Magpie" – 4:15
  3. "Anniversary Waltz" – 1:23
CD2
  1. "Girls & Boys" – 4:20
  2. "People in Europe" – 3:28
  3. "Peter Panic" – 4:22
US CD
  1. "Girls & Boys"
  2. "Girls & Boys"
  3. "Girls & Boys"
  4. "Magpie"
  5. "Peter Panic"
  6. "Maggie May"
US Cassette
  1. "Girls & Boys"
  2. "Girls & Boys"
  3. "Maggie May"
US 12"
  1. "Girls & Boys"
  2. "Girls & Boys"
  3. "Girls & Boys"
Europe CD
  1. "Girls & Boys"
  2. "Girls & Boys"
  3. "Girls & Boys"
  4. "Magpie"
  5. "Anniversary Waltz"
2012 Brit Awards
  1. "Girls & Boys" – 4:43
  2. "Song 2" – 2:15
  3. "Parklife" – 2:52

    Charts

Weekly charts

Chart Peak
position
Belgium 27

Year-end charts

Certifications

Vandalism version

"Boys & Girls" was covered by Australian dance band Vandalism and released as a single in 2005.

Track listing

Australian CD single
  1. "Boys & Girls"
  2. "Boys & Girls"
  3. "Boys & Girls"
  4. "Boys & Girls"

    Charts

Release history