Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?

June 15, 2006 8:52 AM

Did a band in the 90s cover The Barbarians "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?" or was there a song very similar to it?

Allmusic was no help. Neither was google. I want to think it was Love and Rockets.

posted by jasonspaceman to media & arts (13 comments total)

You're thinking of Elton Motello? "Jet Boy, Jet Girl"?
posted by GuyZero at 9:05 AM on June 15, 2006

MP3 clip. A well known song, at least to me. Though until I checked, I also thought it might have been Love and Rockets...
posted by GuyZero at 9:08 AM on June 15, 2006

The Dogs covered it, but I think there is another version that didn't swing, it was a steady beat.
posted by sonofsamiam at 9:11 AM on June 15, 2006

Ah. Here's what I was thinking of.

Imperial Drag had a song called "Boy or a Girl" in heavy rotation back when which contains the lyric "are you a boy or a girl?" but it is not the same song.
posted by sonofsamiam at 9:14 AM on June 15, 2006

No, it was not Elton Motello. I would say the song came out in the mid to late 90s. It kind of had, if I remember correctly, a lame predictible drum beat. The band seemed like it was an alt rock band who was trying to be glam, at least in this song.
posted by jasonspaceman at 9:15 AM on June 15, 2006

sonofsamiam got it.

Thank you!
posted by jasonspaceman at 9:17 AM on June 15, 2006

Are you thinking of of Blur's Girls and Boys?

Girls who are boys
Who like boys to be girls
Who do boys like they're girls
Who do girls like they're boys
Always should be someone you really love
posted by necessitas at 9:24 AM on June 15, 2006

Man, I was totally going to wow you with sonofsamiam's answer, but I was too late.

--Huge Imperial Drag fan
posted by sourwookie at 11:41 AM on June 15, 2006

In the hopes of helping a future generation of ask.mefi searchers, Antony and the Johnsons' "I Fell In Love With a Dead Boy" contains the oft-repeated lyric "Are you a boy or a girl?".
posted by nathancaswell at 11:43 AM on June 15, 2006

Supercharger did a trashy garage punk cover of the Barbarians' tune in the early 90s. .
posted by Eamon at 12:23 PM on June 15, 2006

The video is available at the iTunes Music Store. But only the video, not the album or single.

--Huge Jellyfish fan
posted by kimota at 12:34 PM on June 15, 2006

mmmm... Jellyfish.
Roger Joseph Manning Jr. was also in Jellyfish. The Jellyfish New Mistake video can be found on youtube.
If you are a Jellyfish fan you can also find a video of Beatnik Beach there too.
Roger's long awaited solo album can be found here.
posted by nimsey lou at 4:38 PM on June 15, 2006

you can also find copies of the album on amazon for mega cheap.

Here are some ID demos.

lots of good info and ID goodies can be found on Roger's web site.

Roger is also one of the guys in the Moog CookBook. They also have a new album out.

OK... enough before I fully show what a huge Jellyfish/Roger Manning geek I am.
posted by nimsey lou at 4:48 PM on June 15, 2006