Girls (Tina Turner song)

"Girls"
Cover artwork used to commercialize 7" and 12" editions of the single.
Single by Tina Turner
from the album Break Every Rule
B-side"Take Me to the River"
ReleasedFebruary 1987
GenrePop[1]
Length4:56
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Terry Britten[1]
Tina Turner singles chronology
"Two People"
(1986) 		"Girls"
(1987) 		"What You Get Is What You See"
(1986)

"Girls" is a song written by David Bowie and originally recorded by Tina Turner for her 1986 album Break Every Rule. It was released as a single the same year, where it became a top 20 hit in the Netherlands. Bowie recorded his own studio version of the track during his 1987 Never Let Me Down recording sessions, and released the track as the B-side to his 1987 single "Time Will Crawl".

Tina Turner version

"Girls" was written by David Bowie and Erdal Kızılçay and produced by Terry Britten. It was released as a single in 1986.[1] Tina Turner released a live version of the song on her album Tina Live in Europe (1988).[2] Phil Collins plays drums on this song.

David Bowie version

Bowie later recorded his own version of the song during the Never Let Me Down (1987) sessions, including one track with vocals sung in English and another with vocals sung in Japanese. The song was originally intended to appear on the album itself,[3] but instead both versions appeared as B-sides for different formats of the "Time Will Crawl" single in June 1987; the "extended edit" of the English-language song also appeared as a bonus track on the 1995 Virgin Records reissue of Never Let Me Down,[4] and later on the box set Loving the Alien (1983-1988).[3]

Critical reception

The song was critiqued by Bowie biographer Nicholas Pegg, who, though he considered it better than some of the lesser tracks on the album, found that it "[degenerated] into a standard Never Let Me Down sax-and-guitar romp". Pegg noted influences on the lyrics and musical composition of "Girls" that include Bowie's earlier work "Andy Warhol", Ennio Morricone's "Chi Mai" and even the sci-fi movie Blade Runner (1982).[4]

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[5] 16
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[6] 19

References

  1. ^ a b c Girls (Liner notes). Capitol Records (Barcode: 5099920161972). 1986.
  2. ^ Tina - Live in Europe (Liner notes). Capitol Records (Barcode: 077779012626). 1991.
  3. ^ a b Loving the Alien (1983-1988) (Media notes). Parlophone. 2018.
  4. ^ a b Pegg, Nicholas (October 2016). The Complete David Bowie New Edition: Expanded and Updated. Titan Books.
  5. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Tina Turner" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
  6. ^ "Tina Turner – Girls" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 9 January 2017.