Our Lips Are Sealed

For the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen film, see Our Lips Are Sealed (film).

"Our Lips Are Sealed"
Song
B-side	"Surfing and Spying"

"Our Lips Are Sealed"
Song

"Our Lips Are Sealed"
Song

"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.

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 Billboard's Billboard Pop Singles chart, and fifteen on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart. A song of unusual longevity as a hit, it remained on the Billboard charts for much of 1982 as well, long after its peak.

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.

The following year, co-writer Terry Hall re-recorded the song with his own band, Fun Boy Three; it was a major hit, reaching no. 7 on the UK Singles Chart.

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.

The single's music video was directed by Chris Applebaum and filmed in Toronto, Canada in May 2004. 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 intercut with clips from A Cinderella Story. 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. 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.

Single

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

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	4
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

Other cover versions

• The Soup Dragons recorded a version of the song for BBC Radio One's John Peel show in 1986. It was subsequently released on the b-side of their single Soft As Your Face the following year.
• Wild Orchid covered the song for their second album, Oxygen (1998).
• Poe recorded a version of the song, renamed "My Lips Are Sealed" for the soundtrack to the 2000 film Gossip. It features an interpolation of nonsense verse riddle, "One bright day in the middle of the night / Two dead boys got up to fight."
• Fredo Viola's cover appeared in the 2006 film Man About Town.
• Nouvelle Vague covered the song on their 2009 album 3 together with Terry Hall.
• The Hippos recorded a version for the Before You Were Punk 2 compilation.
• Everclear covered the song on their single for Everything to Everyone.
• Spiderbait released a version of the song, renamed "Alex The Seal" after the popular Mondegreen, on a live bonus disc released with their 1995 major label debut, The Unfinished Spanish Galleon of Finley Lake.

In popular culture

• The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which is known for having named each episode after a 1980s hit song, named a two-part episode after this song.

• The song is featured in the 2002 film Home Room, in which Alicia (Busy Philipps) tells Deanna (Erika Christensen) that the lips of the song's title are referring to labia because the song is about keeping one's virginity.

• The song was made available for download on November 24, 2009 for the Rock Band video games, and is a playable track for the music video game Band Hero.

• In Australia, the chorus/song title is sometimes jokingly referred to as 'Alex the Seal,' due to many people mistaking the lyrics for thus.

• An urban legend once spread claiming the song was about girls keeping their virginity.

External links

• "Our Lips Are Sealed" music video on YouTube