"Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)" is the debut single by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

new wave band

Haircut One Hundred Haircut One Hundred (also Haircut 100) were a British new wave group formed in 1980 in Beckenham, London by Nick Heyward, Les Nemes and Graham Jones. In 1981 and 1982, the band scored four UK top 10 hit singles: "Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets ...

, released in October 1981 by Arista Records. The song appears on their 1982 debut album '' Pelican West''. It reached No. 4 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in November 1981 and was certified silver by the BPI for sales in excess of 200,000 copies.

Composition

The song was written by group vocalist

Nick Heyward Nicholas Heyward (born 20 May 1961) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He came to international attention in the early 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter for Haircut One Hundred. He and the band parted ways after their first alb ...

. The writing credits of the B-side, "Boat Party", are attributed to Haircut One Hundred, although the song features

guitar riff A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompanime ...

patterns similar to "Favourite Shirts". Both tracks were recorded at the Roundhouse Studios in

Chalk Farm Chalk Farm is a small urban district of north London, lying immediately north of Camden Town, in the London Borough of Camden. History Manor of Rugmere Chalk Farm was originally known as the Manor of Rugmere, an estate that was mentioned ...

, London, soon after the band had signed to Arista. These recordings are the only ones with Pat Hunt, later replaced by

Blair Cunningham Blair Cunningham (born October 11, 1957, Memphis, Tennessee) is an American drummer who has played for many bands and artists including Denise LaSalle, Robert Johnson, the Detroit Emeralds, Frederick Knight, Echo & the Bunnymen, Haircut One H ...

, on drums.

Release and reception

"Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)" was released in October 1981 on 7" and 12" formats. Writing in the October 1981 issue of '' Smash Hits'', critic Fred Dellar described the single as doing "for

jazz-funk Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat ( groove), electrified sounds, and an early prevalence of analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creat ...

what Dexy's once did for R&B". He described it as a "slight" song, although "the musicianship is both impeccable and exciting."

Track listing

* 7" single (Arista CLIP1) # "Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)" # "Boat Party" * 12" single (Arista CLIP121) # "Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)" – 6:25 # "Boat Party" – 5:10 This original 12" mix is different to the one later released on ''The Best of Nick Heyward & Haircut One Hundred'' (1989), '' Pelican West Plus'' (1992) and ''The Greatest Hits of Nick Heyward & Haircut One Hundred'' (1996), which featured longer 12" mixes.

Chart performance

The single initially entered the UK top 40 at No. 40 at the end of October 1981. It then reached its peak position of No. 4 within three weeks, remaining at the same position for a further week, kept off the top spot by such artists as

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

and

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

Julio Iglesias Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record ...

the Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...

and

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million reco ...

. The single spent a total of eight weeks in the top 40 and 14 in the top 100. The group appeared on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

'' for the first time to perform the song on 29 October 1981, when the single had reached No. 40 in the UK charts. They performed the song on the show for the second and final time on 12 November 1981, when it was at the No. 9 position. It reached its peak of No. 4 on 15 November 1981.

Charts

References

{{authority control 1981 songs 1981 debut singles Haircut One Hundred songs Songs written by Nick Heyward Song recordings produced by Bob Sargeant Arista Records singles