Boy (Book of Love song)

"Boy" is the title of the 1985 debut single by the American synthpop band Book of Love. The song was included on the band's eponymous debut album Book of Love in 1986.

Contents

• 1985 7 Single Sire Records 7 29030
• 1985 12 Maxi Single Sire Records 0 20229
• 2000 2 x 12 Promo Reprise Records PRO A 100359
• 2001 12 Promo Reprise Records PRO 100499
• 2001 2 x 12 Single Reprise Records 0 44928
• 2001 CD Single Reprise Records 9 44928 2
• Personnel
• Official versions
• References

Although the song failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 chart, it did make the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, where it peaked at no. 7 in April 1985.

"Boy" was written by band member Theodore ("Ted") Ottaviano and features a prominent tubular bells melody. The band secured a recording contract when the demo of the song was given to DJ/producer Ivan Ivan, who then passed it along to Seymour Stein of Sire Records.

The song is also notable for its uncommon (in a mainstream pop song of its time) subject matter, describing the frustrations of a woman who likes "a boy who likes boys". The lyrical content, however, is veiled and suggestive rather than overt and explicit, presumably due to the unease surrounding homosexuality in some circles of US culture in the mid-1980s. Ted Ottaviano said in a 2016 Village Voice interview that the song "is actually written about Boy Bar, which was a very exclusive gay club in the East Village."

In 1985, a rare Australian promotional video was shot for the single. (see External links for video) On May 21, 1985, the song was featured on American Bandstand's rate-a-record segment. Up against B.E. Taylor Group's "Reggae Rock & Roll", "Boy" won the competition with the score of 84.

In 2000, almost sixteen years later, the song was remixed by noted club DJ Peter Rauhofer, as well as Headrillaz, Dubaholics, RPO, and re-released to dance clubs in late 2000/early 2001. These remixes, including an almost ten-minute-long version by Rauhofer, again charted on the Billboard Club Play chart under the title "Boy (Remixes)", this time reaching no. 1 on the dance chart in February 2001. Both the original version of "Boy" as well as an edit of the remix by Rauhofer were included on Book of Love's greatest hits album, I Touch Roses: The Best of Book of Love, in 2001.

In 2001, a promotional video remix titled 'Big Red Mix' was made for the album edit of the Peter Rauhofer remix using footage from the band's 1989 appearance at Bill Graham's In Concert Against AIDS benefit show in San Francisco. (see External links for video)

The song is played during a club scene in the episode "Limbo" of the American television series Halt and Catch Fire.