"Little Girls" is a song by American new wave group

Oingo Boingo Oingo Boingo () was an American new wave band formed by songwriter Danny Elfman in 1979. The band emerged from a surrealist musical theatre troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, that Elfman had led and written material for in the ye ...

and the opening track of their debut album ''

Only a Lad ''Only a Lad'' is the full-length debut album by American new wave band Oingo Boingo, released in 1981, following their self-titled EP. Composition Music The album's musical arrangements, by vocalist Danny Elfman and guitarist Steve Bartek, comp ...

''.

Background

"Little Girls" was written by

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...

after reading an article in a newspaper. The song was written as a satire and has a strong punk influence, plus horn arrangements. When asked about the song's darkly humorous lyrics in 2010, Elfman replied that: Elfman would reiterate this view in 2014, claiming that the song was an "in-your-face facetious jab." Elfman has occasionally offered other explanations; in a 1985 concert he jokingly suggested that the song was about how his girlfriend was so "very, very little" that "she fits in the palm of ishand." "Little Girls" was described by '' Creative Loafing Tampa'' as one of the standout tracks of ''Only a Lad''. The music video, directed by his brother

Richard Elfman Richard Elfman (born March 6, 1949) is an American actor, musician, director, producer, screenwriter, journalist, author and magazine publisher. Early life Richard Elfman was born in the Watts district of inner-city Los Angeles. His mother, B ...

, depicts Elfman in an empty house dancing with girls and people with

dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition wherein an organism is exceptionally small, and mostly occurs in the animal kingdom. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dw ...

, followed by on-lookers (portrayed by other members of Oingo Boingo) staring vacantly as he walks down a street with an apparent underage girl. The video features set pieces strongly reminiscent of

German Expressionist German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

filmmaking, such as that seen in '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari''. It was originally banned in Canada and was named "the creepiest music video of all time" by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''.

References

{{authority control Oingo Boingo songs 1981 songs Music video controversies Satirical songs Songs written by Danny Elfman