Our Lips Are Sealed

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"Our Lips are Sealed"
Single by The Go-Go's
from the album Beauty and the Beat
B-side Surfing and Spying
Released June 11, 1980
Format 7"
Recorded 1980
Genre New Wave, power pop
Length 2:44
Label IRS
Writer(s) Jane Wiedlin, Terry Hall
Producer Richard Gottehrer, Rob Freeman
The Go-Go's singles chronology
- "Our Lips Are Sealed"
(1981)
"We Got the Beat"
(1980)
"Our Lips Are Sealed"
Single by Fun Boy Three
from the album Waiting
Released 1983
Format 7", CD single
Recorded 1982–1983
Genre New Wave
Label Chrysalis
Producer David Byrne
Fun Boy Three singles chronology
"Tunnel of Love"
(1980)
"Our Lips Are Sealed"
(1983)
"The Farm Yard Connection"
(1983)
"Our Lips Are Sealed"
Single by Hilary Duff and Haylie Duff
from the album A Cinderella Story: Original Soundtrack
Released August 23, 2004[1]
Format CD single
Recorded 2004
Genre Pop, pop rock
Length 2:40
Label Hollywood
Producer John Shanks
Hilary Duff singles chronology
"Little Voice"
(2004)
"Our Lips Are Sealed"
(2004)
"Fly"
(2004)

"Our Lips are Sealed" is a song written by Go-Go's guitarist Jane Wiedlin and Specials and Fun Boy Three singer Terry Hall. It was first recorded by The Go-Go's as the opening track on their 1981 album Beauty and the Beat (see 1981 in music) and served as their debut American single. In 2000 Rolling Stone named it one of the 100 Greatest Pop Songs of all time.

Contents

[edit] Music video

The accompanying video was an early favorite of the fledgling MTV channel, and helped establish the Go-Go's' energetic persona. It features sequences of the band members in carefree tableaux (riding around in a convertible, stopping at a lingerie shop and splashing around in a city fountain) interspersed with footage of the band playing a club booking.

Jane Wiedlin says the band was initially unenthusiastic about doing the video when Miles Copeland, president of their label, I.R.S. Records, told them they would be doing it. "We were totally bratty," she recalls. It was funded out of unused funds in The Police's video budget.[2]

The concept was for the band to drive around and be followed by a camera. Belinda Carlisle would sing, and the other members would do cute things. They wanted an older-style convertible and found a 1960 Buick at Rent-A-Wreck. It was, says Wiedlin, the band's idea to end the video by jumping into the Electric Fountain on the corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica Blvds, Beverly Hills. "I thought, at any minute the cops are gonna come. This is gonna be so cool."[2]

She still looks back on it fondly. "I have horrible '80s poodle hair in [it]", she recalled in a 2011 history of MTV. "But there's a simplicity and innocence to the video that appeals to me."[3]

[edit] Go-Go's and Fun Boy Three versions

Although originally written and performed with three verses, it is an abbreviated version of the song that appears on Beauty and the Beat. This version of the song was released as a single in June 1981 (see 1981 in music) and peaked at number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and fifteen on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart. On the dance chart, the song peaked at number ten.[4] A song of unusual longevity as a hit, it remained on the Billboard charts for much of 1982 as well, long after its peak.[citation needed]

The following year, co-writer Terry Hall re-recorded the song with his own band, Fun Boy Three; it reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart.

[edit] Hilary and Haylie Duff version

Sisters Hilary and Haylie Duff covered the song for the soundtrack to the 2004 film A Cinderella Story, in which Hilary starred. The cover, recorded as a duet with Duff's sister Haylie and produced by John Shanks, was released as a single in the United States in June 2004 . The Duff sisters said in an interview that they had wanted to record together, and Hilary chose "Our Lips Are Sealed" because the "secretive" theme of the song relates to the film A Cinderella Story.[5]

Music video

The single's music video was directed by Chris Applebaum and filmed in Toronto, Canada in May 2004.[5] It was released in June 2004 and received medium airplay on MuchMusic in Canada and MTV in the U.S. Similar to the video for the Go-Go's single, it depicts the Duff sisters driving around town in a car and goofing about, and is interspersed with footage from A Cinderella Story. A second version of the video, that has new scenes and isn't interspersed with scenes from A Cinderella Story, can be viewed on the Dignity Deluxe Edition DVD. Though the video was popular on the MTV video chart show Total Request Live, the single itself was less successful than the original Go-Go's song in the U.S., failing to chart on the Hot 100. In Australia it reached number eight. The song was the first song ever to be played on the UK show B4[citation needed]. The song was later included on Duff's compilation album, Most Wanted (2005).

This version was also included in the Japanese and Australian editions of Hilary Duff's second compilation album Best of Hilary Duff.

Track listing
  1. "Our Lips Our Sealed" [Album Version]
  2. "Our Lips Our Sealed" [Music Video]
  3. Cinderella Story Trailer

[edit] Charts

Chart (1982 - The Go Go's version) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart 47
U.S. Billboard Club Play Singles 10
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock 15
U.S. Billboard Billboard Hot 100 20
Canadian Singles Chart 3
Australian ARIA Singles Chart 2
Chart (1983 - Fun Boy Three version) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart 7
Chart (2004 - Hilary and Haylie Duff version) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart 8
Canadian Singles Chart 7

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.amazon.de/Our-Lips-Are-Sealed-2trx/dp/B0002TWZCA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1291442127&sr=8-1
  2. ^ a b Marks, Craig; Tannenbaum, Rob (2011). I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution. New York, NY: Dutton. pp. 92–93. ISBN 9780525952305. 
  3. ^ I Want My MTV, 104.
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 111. 
  5. ^ a b Moss, Corey. "Hilary And Haylie Give The Go-Go's A Double-Duff Treatment". MTV News. May 20, 2004.

[edit] External links

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