Hip to Be Square


"Hip to Be Square" is a song by Huey Lewis and the News, written by Bill Gibson, Sean Hopper, and Huey Lewis, and released in 1986 as the second single from the multi-platinum album, Fore!.
The song features Pro Football Hall of Famers and then-San Francisco 49ers Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott singing backup vocals. The single reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. In concert, Huey Lewis now normally sings the song as " Hip to Be Square", as performed on their live album, Live at 25.

Composition

According to Lewis, the song was meant to be ironic and was originally written in third person. "It wasn't intended to be an anthem for square people, and not everyone recognized the irony," said Lewis. He considers the misconstrued message of the song one of his regrets in his career.

Appearances

''American Psycho''

The song is referred to in the novel American Psycho when the main character, Patrick Bateman, provides a lengthy critique of Huey Lewis and the News' career.
The song was then featured in the film adaptation during a scene in which Bateman gives an abridged version of his critique from the novel to Paul Allen just before killing him with an axe in one of the most iconic scenes of the movie:
The song was originally featured on the accompanying soundtrack, but shortly after it was released, the album was pulled from the shelves and the song was removed before being reissued, but a small number had already been sold. Reports erroneously claimed that Lewis had objected to the context in which his song was used in the film and demanded it be removed from the album. In reality, the film's production team had paid for the rights to use the song in the film, but overlooked receiving the rights to include it on the soundtrack. When the soundtrack was released with the song on it, Lewis had it withdrawn, as the soundtrack rights had not been secured.
In 2013, Lewis himself guest starred in a parody of the scene with "Weird Al" Yankovic for comedy website Funny or Die.

''Sesame Street''

The popular children's show Sesame Street created an educational parody of the song called "Hip to Be a Square" and used it during a cartoon portion of the program. Lewis said of the parody, "they contacted our publisher about doing it, and we were happy to let ‘em. I think it’s sweet."

Track listing

;7-inch single
  1. "Hip to Be Square"
  2. "Some of My Lies Are True"
;12-inch single
  1. "Hip to Be Square" – 6:05
  2. "Hip to Be Square" – 5:11

    Charts

Year-end chart Position
US Top Pop Singles 49