Girl U Want
| "Girl U Want" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "Whip It", "Mr. B's Ballroom" |
"Girl U Want" is a 1980 single by the American New Wave band Devo. It was the first single released from the album Freedom of Choice. In 1995, Devo rerecorded the song for the soundtrack to Tank Girl.
Song Information
"Girl U Want" was inspired by the song "My Sharona" by The Knack. [1] The lyrics, in typical Devo style, describe a relationship marked by unrequited love/lust for a woman. "Girl U Want" was first performed in December 1979 in a similar arrangement to the album version.
Music video
In the music video, Devo performs for a group of young women in the style of a performance from The Ed Sullivan Show, with two robotic backup dancers, one male and one female. Further implying the televised nature of the performance, the color in the video is deliberately altered to make the red of the band's Energy Dome headgear look almost purple. The band wears the silver naugahyde suits from the cover of Freedom of Choice, and mime the song with Moog Liberation synthesizers.
During the video, the camera focuses on the girls in the audience exaggeratedly enjoying the performance, including one girl who is visually implied to "wet" herself, which transitions to a scene of General Boy controlling the backup dancers. At one point, Mark Mothersbaugh pulls aside the curtain behind the band to show an overweight man on a vibrating exercise machine, attempting to drink a milkshake to the ecstatic reaction of the audience. As the video ends, girls in the audience are shown holding signs with icons, including an electrical outlet.
Alternate Versions and Covers
In 1981, Devo recorded an instrumental E-Z Listening version of the song for a fan club distributed cassette tape. This version was popular enough to be performed live, with vocals, on the 1982 tour. In 1995, a reunited Devo recorded a version for the film Tank Girl, in the style of a 1992 cover by Soundgarden. Another re-recording of "Girl U Want" was used for the game Rock Band. In 2006, Devo re-recorded the song once again for the Devo 2.0 project. Two versions were released: "Boy U Want" with almost completely new lyrics, and a version with slightly modified lyrics as "Girl U Want".
"Girl U Want" was notably covered by Robert Palmer and Soundgarden.