Hey Boy Hey Girl
This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2011) |
"Hey Boy Hey Girl" | |
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Song | |
B-side |
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"Hey Boy Hey Girl" is a song by British big beat duo The Chemical Brothers. It was released as a single from their 1999 album Surrender. It peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart in June 1999 and remained on the chart for ten weeks. It also reached the top 10 in Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and Spain, as well on Canada's RPM Dance Chart. In the latter country, it did not make it onto the RPM Top Singles Chart, but it did debut and peak at number 3 on the Canadian Singles Chart.
The song dates back to 1997, when it was in the Radio 1 Anti-Nazi Mix. The song is a track in the 2011 video game Just Dance 3, and it is also featured in the 2012 video game Lumines Electronic Symphony by Ubisoft. It was also used during the introduction of Forza Horizon.
Samples
The vocal sample "Hey girls. B-boys. Superstar DJs, here we go!" was taken from "The Roof Is on Fire" by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three.
Reception
In October 2011, NME placed it at number 50 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years", writing that the song "[starts] with a menacing, trance laden groove" and "[builds] to an absolute dance stomper".[1]
Plagiarism allegations
In an interview with BELPOP, Lords of Acid founder Praga Khan confronted the Chemical Brothers backstage over the drum programming used in "Hey Boy Hey Girl" that is identical to "I Sit On Acid 2000" released by Lords of Acid. Their response to the allegations was "Everyone steals from everyone."[2]
Music video
The music video (directed by Dom & Nic) opens with a group of schoolchildren on board a coach. The camera focuses on a young girl who opens a medical book of pictures of the human skeleton. A blond boy spits on the page, then smiles at her as he walks away. The children go to the Natural History Museum, where the same boy tries to scare the girl with a skull in his hood. She chases the boy in the museum, but falls near the bottom of a flight of stairs and breaks her wrist. At the hospital, she gets an X-ray of her hand. It then shows her brushing her teeth whilst picturing herself as only bones. The background behind her morphs into a toilet area at the Ministry of Sound nightclub, South London. When she reverts into a person, she is older. She passes a couple having sexual intercourse in a stall, but she only sees them as skeletons (this shot is omitted from some pre-watershed television edits of the video). She exits the bathroom and heads to the nightclub's bar, where a man (uncredited appearance of Rick Warden) tries to chat her up. (You can barely hear his lines under the music). She then pictures him as a skeleton and feels his jawbone before leaving. She then goes to the dance floor, and sees more people as skeletons, almost as if she has X-ray vision. She exits the nightclub, and the Chemical Brothers themselves make a brief cameo appearance, stepping out of a taxi with DJ equipment. She then steps into that same taxi, where she sees the driver as a skeleton. He then asks her 'Where you going, baby?' in a camp, droll voice.
Track listing
CD single
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Hey Boy Hey Girl" | 4:49 |
2. | "Flashback" | 5:20 |
3. | "Scale" | 3:43 |
Charts
Chart (1999) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (ARIA)[3] | 25 |
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[4] | 23 |
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[5] | 18 |
Canadian Singles Chart (Nielsen SoundScan)[6] | 3 |
Canada Dance/Urban (RPM)[7] | 6 |
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[8] | 8 |
France (SNEP)[9] | 77 |
Invalid chart entered Germany2 | 41 |
Ireland (IRMA)[10] | 4 |
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[11] | 25 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[12] | 29 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[13] | 10 |
Norway (VG-lista)[14] | 9 |
Scotland (OCC)[15] | 2 |
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[16] | 5 |
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[17] | 14 |
UK Singles (OCC)[18] | 3 |
Release history
Region | Release date | Label | Format | Catalogue |
---|---|---|---|---|
Japan | 26 May 1999 | Virgin Japan | CD | VJCP-12125 |
UK | 31 May 1999 | Freestyle Dust | CD | CHEMSD8 |
12" vinyl | CHEMST8 | |||
Cassette | CHEMSC8 |
References
- ^ "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". NME.COM. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
- ^ Praga Khan: BELPOP 4/6. YouTube. 22 March 2010.
- ^ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "CANADIAN BILLBOARD WEEKLY DIGITAL SONG SALES CHARTS FROM 1999". Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "Top RPM Dance/Urban: Issue 8393." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "The Chemical Brothers: Hey Boy Hey Girl" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Hey Boy Hey Girl". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 27, 1999" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl". VG-lista. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl" Canciones Top 50. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 April 2018.