"Hey Boy Hey Girl"
Single by the Chemical Brothers
from the album Surrender
B-side
  • "Flashback"
  • "Scale"
Released26 May 1999 (1999-05-26)
StudioOrinoco (South London, England)
Length4:50
Label
Songwriter(s)
  • Tom Rowlands
  • Ed Simons
  • Gregory Carlton Wigfall
  • Richard Lee Fowler
  • Charles Pettiford
  • Celite Evans
  • Jerry Bloodrock
Producer(s)The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers singles chronology
"Only 4 the K People"
(1999)		 "Hey Boy Hey Girl"
(1999)		 "Let Forever Be"
(1999)
Music video
"Hey Boy Hey Girl" on YouTube

"Hey Boy Hey Girl" is a song by the British big beat duo the Chemical Brothers. The song contains a sample from "The Roof Is on Fire" by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three.[1] "Hey Boy Hey Girl" was released as the first single from the Chemical Brothers' third studio album, Surrender (1999), on 26 May 1999 in Japan and on 31 May in the United Kingdom.

Upon its release, the song peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart in June 1999 and remained on the chart for 10 weeks. It also reached the top 10 in Finland, Iceland, 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 three on the Canadian Singles Chart.

Critical reception

Daily Record commented, "Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands are back with another fantastic dance single. It's another block rockin' hit."[2] 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".[3]

Music video

The music video (directed by Dom and 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 fractures her wrist. At the hospital, she gets an X-ray of her hand.

The video 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 (played by Hanne Klintøe[4]). She passes a couple having sex in a stall, but she only sees them as skeletons (this shot was 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 talk with her. 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 listings

Standard CD and cassette single[5][6][7]

  1. "Hey Boy Hey Girl" – 4:48
  2. "Flashback" – 5:18
  3. "Scale" – 3:43

Standard 12-inch single[8][9]

  1. "Hey Boy Hey Girl" (extended version) – 6:01
  2. "Flashback" – 5:18
  3. "Scale" – 3:43

European CD single[10]

  1. "Hey Boy Hey Girl" (radio edit) – 3:32
  2. "Flashback" – 5:18

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the Surrender album booklet.[1]

Studios

  • Recorded at Orinoco Studios (South London, England)
  • Edited at Berwick Street Studios (London, England)
  • Mastered at The Exchange (London, England)

Personnel

  • The Chemical Brothers – production
    • Tom Rowlands – writing
    • Ed Simons – writing
  • Gregory Carlton Wigfall – writing
  • Richard Lee Fowler – writing
  • Charles Pettiford – writing
  • Celite Evans – writing
  • Jerry Bloodrock – writing
  • Steve Dub – engineering
  • Cheeky Paul – editing
  • Mike Marsh – mastering

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[40] Platinum 70,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[41] Platinum 600,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region Date Format Label(s) Catalogue Ref.
Japan 26 May 1999 CD
VJCP-12125 [42]
United Kingdom 31 May 1999 CHEMSD8 [43]
12-inch vinyl CHEMST8
Cassette CHEMSC8
Canada 1 June 1999 CD Virgin — [44]

References

  1. 1 2 Surrender (UK CD album booklet). The Chemical Brothers. Freestyle Dust, Virgin Records. 1999. XDUSTCD4, 7243 8 47610 2 8.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  2. ↑ "Chartslot". Daily Record. 18 June 1999. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  3. ↑ "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". NME.COM. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  4. ↑ "Hanne Klintoe - Other Works". IMDb. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  5. ↑ Hey Boy Hey Girl (UK CD single liner notes). The Chemical Brothers. Freestyle Dust, Virgin Records. 1999. CHEMSD8, 7243 8 95887 2 9.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  6. ↑ Hey Boy Hey Girl (US CD single liner notes). The Chemical Brothers. Astralwerks. 1999. ASW 66267-2, 0170 4 66267 2 9.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ↑ Hey Boy Hey Girl (UK cassette single sleeve). The Chemical Brothers. Freestyle Dust, Virgin Records. 1999. CHEMSC8, 7243 8 95887 4 3.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  8. ↑ Hey Boy Hey Girl (UK 12-inch single sleeve). The Chemical Brothers. Freestyle Dust, Virgin Records. 1999. CHEMST8, 7243 8 95887 6 7.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  9. ↑ Hey Boy Hey Girl (US 12-inch single sleeve). The Chemical Brothers. Astralwerks. 1999. ASW 6267-6, 0170 4 66267 6 7.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. ↑ Hey Boy Hey Girl (European CD single liner notes). The Chemical Brothers. Freestyle Dust, Virgin Records. 1999. CHEMSDE8, 7243 8 95942 2 5.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  12. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  13. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  14. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl" (in Dutch). Ultratop Dance. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  15. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers Chart History (Canadian Digital Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  16. ↑ "Top RPM Dance/Urban: Issue 8393." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  17. ↑ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 16, no. 25. 19 June 1999. p. 13. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  18. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers: Hey Boy Hey Girl" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  19. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  20. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  21. ↑ "Top National Sellers" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 16, no. 29. 17 July 1999. p. 11. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  22. ↑ "Íslenski Listinn (15.7–22.7. 1999)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 16 July 1999. p. 10. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  23. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Hey Boy Hey Girl". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  24. ↑ "Hits of the World – Italy" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 111, no. 29. 17 July 1999. p. 66. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  25. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 27, 1999" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  26. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  27. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  28. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl". VG-lista. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  29. ↑ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  30. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl" Canciones Top 50. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  31. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  32. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  33. ↑ "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  34. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers Chart History (Dance Singles Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  35. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten 1999" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  36. ↑ "Rapports annuels 1999" (in French). Ultratop. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  37. ↑ "Jaarlijsten 1999" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  38. ↑ "Årslista Singlar, 1999" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  39. ↑ "Best Sellers of 1999: Singles Top 100". Music Week. 22 January 2000. p. 27.
  40. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2023 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  41. ↑ "British single certifications – Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  42. ↑ "Hey Boy Hey Girl" (in Japanese). Toshiba-EMI. Archived from the original on 5 December 2000. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  43. ↑ "New Releases: For Week Starting 31 May, 1999" (PDF). Music Week. 29 May 1999. p. 25. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  44. ↑ "Album Releases: June 1999". Jam!. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
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