name | Uptown Girl |
---|---|
cover | Uptown Girl joel.jpg |
artist | Billy Joel |
album | An Innocent Man |
released | September 29, 1983 |
format | Vinyl (7") |
recorded | 1983 |
genre | Pop rock, New wave |
length | 3:18 |
writer | Billy Joel |
label | Columbia |
producer | Phil Ramone |
certification | Gold (RIAA) |
last single | "Tell Her About It"(1983) |
this single | "Uptown Girl"(1983) |
next single | "An Innocent Man"(1983) }} |
"Uptown Girl" is a song written and performed by musician Billy Joel, first released in 1983 on his album An Innocent Man. The lyrics describe a working-class "downtown man" attempting to woo a wealthy "uptown girl." The single peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts in the US, and #1 in the UK, staying at that position for 5 weeks; it was the second biggest selling single of 1983 in the United Kingdom behind only Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon", which Joel had knocked off the number one position on November 1, 1983; in 1988, Rolling Stone ranked "Uptown Girl" #99 on their list of the 100 most important singles of the period 1963-1988. The song was the 19th biggest selling single of the 1980s in the United Kingdom.
The style of music, including the doo-wop beat, the close harmonies and Joel's use of falsetto singing, is reminiscent of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
Different versions of the music video opening were produced, in which an auto mechanic is watching the end of Joel's previous hit "Tell Her About It" on a small TV. Then, depending on the version, the next image on the TV is either a blank screen or the logo of the network or TV show the video was on. The only logos known to be used are MTV and Friday Night Videos. A fourth version, which skipped the prologue segment, aired on Night Tracks, America's Top 10 and other music video shows. This is also the version posted on the music video website Vevo.
In the most common music video, the mechanics gather around waiting for a customer just before closing time. A billboard for "Uptown Cosmetics" is above the mechanic shop. A towncar drives up with a beautiful woman with her hair hidden under a chic black hat, wearing a sexy sleeveless dress and high heels (played by Christie Brinkley) in the back seat, and the men realize the woman is the model on the billboard. Joel begins singing as his mechanic friends help him clean the car and they serenade the woman, who watches, happy to be the center of attention. Joel leads her out of the car and the driver looks on at his passenger, urging her to come back, but instead she walks flirtatiously away, causing the men to follow her. Joel convinces his friends that the "uptown girl" is the one for him, and a dance sequence with everyone follows. Afterwards, Joel takes the woman's hand and leads her to his motorcycle. The woman takes off her hat and lets her long blond hair fall over her shoulders, the two grin before driving off, as Joel's friends cheer him on and continue dancing. Once the motorcycle drives off, the video shows the billboard once more.
End of year chart (1983) | Position |
UK Singles Chart | |
Country | Certification | Date | Sales certified |
UK | |||
name | Uptown Girl/Billy |
---|---|
artist | Me First and the Gimme Gimmes |
album | Have a Ball |
released | November 1, 1996 |
format | 7" vinyl |
recorded | January 1996 |
genre | Punk-rock |
length | 2:22 |
label | Epitaph Records |
producer | Me First and the Gimme Gimmes |
last single | "Take Me Home, Country Roads/Denver"(1986) |
this single | "Uptown Girl/Billy"(1986) |
next single | "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard/Paul"(1986) |
misc | }} |
in 1996 Me First and the Gimme Gimmes covered the song for their 1997 album Have a Ball. Their version is often mistakenly accredited to Weezer due to incorrectly named files available on the Internet. To the published version of the one with the B-side Only the Good Die Young Billy as Single and unlike the original, this version is very influenced by punk.
name | Uptown Girl |
---|---|
cover | 9UptownGirl1.jpg |
artist | Westlife |
album | Coast to Coast |
released | March 5, 2001 |
recorded | Rokstone Studios, London |
format | CD |
genre | Teen pop, Dance-pop |
length | 3:06 |
writer | Billy Joel |
producer | Steve Mac |
certification | Platinum (UK)Gold (SWE) |
last single | "I Lay My Love on You"(2001) |
this single | "Uptown Girl"(2001) |
next single | "When You're Looking Like That"(2001) |
misc | }} |
"Uptown Girl" is the fifth single released from Westlife's second studio album, Coast to Coast. It was released as 2001's Comic Relief charity single, and reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart. The song became the 23rd best selling single of the 2000s in the UK, with sales of 756,215 copies. It became the band's biggest selling single in the UK, and also achieved the highest first week sale (292,318) of any of their singles. The song was the 6th best selling single of 2001 in the UK. The song has received a Platinum sales certification in the UK and so far it reached 770 000 of sales.
; UK CD2 # "Uptown Girl" (Radio Edit) - 3:06 # "Uptown Girl" (Extended Version) - 5:02 # "Behind The Scenes Footage & Band Messages"
; UK VHS Video Single # "Uptown Girl" (Video) - 3:14 # "Behind The Scenes Footage & Band Messages"
; Ireland Only Single # "Uptown Girl" (Radio Edit) - 3:06 # "Uptown Girl" (Extended Version) - 5:02 # "Angel's Wings" - 4:02 # "Close Your Eyes" - 4:32 # "Uptown Girl" (Video) - 3:14 # "Behind The Scenes Footage & Band Messages"
End of year chart (2001) | Position |
Irish Singles Chart | |
UK Singles Chart | |
Chart (2000–2009) | Peakposition |
Category:1983 singles Category:1996 singles Category:2001 singles Category:1980s pop songs Category:2000s pop songs Category:Dance-pop songs Category:New Wave songs Category:Westlife songs Category:Alvin and the Chipmunks songs Category:Billy Joel songs Category:Songs written by Billy Joel Category:Comic Relief singles Category:UK Singles Chart number-one singles Category:Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Category:Number-one singles in New Zealand Category:Number-one singles in Australia Category:Songs produced by Phil Ramone
de:Uptown Girl es:Uptown Girl fr:Uptown Girl id:Uptown Girl it:Uptown Girl sw:Uptown Girl ja:アップタウン・ガール pl:Uptown Girl pt:Uptown Girl sv:Uptown Girl vi:Uptown GirlThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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