"Girls" is a song written by

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 ...

and originally recorded by

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

for her 1986 album ''

Break Every Rule ''Break Every Rule'' is the sixth solo studio album by Tina Turner. It was released on September 5, 1986, through Capitol Records in the US. It was the follow-up to Turner's globally successful comeback album, ''Private Dancer'', released two ye ...

''. It was released as a single the same year, where it became a top 20 hit in Europe. Bowie recorded his own studio version of the track during his 1987 ''

Never Let Me Down ''Never Let Me Down'' is the 17th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 20 April 1987 through EMI America Records. After a series of miscellaneous projects, Bowie hoped to make his next record differently following his ...

'' recording sessions, and released the track as the B-side to his 1987 single "

Time Will Crawl "Time Will Crawl" is a song recorded by English singer David Bowie, serving as the second single for his seventeenth album, '' Never Let Me Down'' (1987). It was written by Bowie and produced by him and David Richards. Released in 1987 by EM ...

Tina Turner version

"Girls" was written by

and

Erdal Kızılçay Erdal Kızılçay (born c. 1950) is a multi-instrumentalist musician of Turkish birth. He has worked with, among others, David Bowie. He plays bass guitar, oud, drums, keyboards, trumpet and violin. He lives in Aegerten, Switzerland. Work with Dav ...

and produced by

Terry Britten Terence Ernest Britten (born July 1947) is an English-Australian singer-songwriter and record producer, who has written songs for Tina Turner, Cliff Richard, Olivia Newton-John, Status Quo and Michael Jackson amongst many others. Britten (along w ...

. It was released as a single in 1986. Tina Turner released a live version of the song on her album '' Tina Live in Europe'' (1988).

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

plays drums on this song.

David Bowie version

Bowie later recorded his own version of the song during the ''

'' (1987) sessions, including one track with vocals sung in English and another with vocals sung in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. The song was originally intended to appear on the album itself, but instead both versions appeared as B-sides for different formats of the "

" single in June 1987; the "extended edit" of the English-language song also appeared as a bonus track on the 1995

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

reissue of ''Never Let Me Down'', and later on the box set ''

Loving the Alien (1983-1988) "Loving the Alien" is a song written and recorded by David Bowie. It was the opening track to his sixteenth studio album ''Tonight''. One of two tracks on the album written solely by Bowie, an edited version of the song was released as a singl ...

''.

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 " egeneratedinto 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 Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...

's "

Chi Mai "Chi Mai" (Italian: whoever) is a composition by Ennio Morricone written in 1971. It was used in the films ''Maddalena'' directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz (1971)Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

'' (1982).

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1987 singles Tina Turner songs David Bowie songs Songs written by David Bowie Songs written by Erdal Kızılçay 1986 songs