Fell in Love with a Girl

Critical reception

The single met with widespread critical acclaim. The May 3, 2007 issue of Rolling Stone magazine listed the song as one of the forty songs that changed the world. In 2011, NME placed it at number 6 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". The Times said that the track "mixes the blues with the Pixies." The Village Voice's "Pazz & Jop critics' poll named "Fell in Love with a Girl" the sixth-best song of 2002.

Music video

The music video is a LEGO animation directed by Michel Gondry. Gondry's son was featured at the beginning of the video, building LEGO blocks. It was shot frame by frame with each frame having the LEGO bricks rebuilt, sometimes in a complex manner to seem as if it were an actual shot, and then formed together to give the illusion of motion. The video mostly consists of red, white, and black color. The White Stripes couldn't strike a deal with Lego, so they had to buy a large amount of LEGO boxes for the video.

In an interview for The Work of Director Michel Gondry DVD, Jack stated that the White Stripes' long-time collaboration with Michel Gondry started by accident; for "Fell in Love with a Girl", Jack stated that he wanted to work with the director who did Beck's video for "Devils Haircut", referring to Mark Romanek. Their record company mistakenly hired Gondry, thinking he was the director of "Devils Haircut". Jack didn't mind, as he did the video for Beck's "Deadweight", which Jack also liked.

Also revealed in The Work of Director Michel Gondry interview, the White Stripes contacted the LEGO Group in hopes of having a small LEGO set packaged with each single of the record, with which one could build a LEGO version of Jack and Meg White. The LEGO Group refused, saying: "We don't market our product to people over the age of twelve." However, once the video became a hit, LEGO contacted the White Stripes again and asked if they could reconstruct the deal to have LEGO packaged with the single. This time, however, Jack White refused.

The The Work of Director Michel Gondry DVD also reveals that one section, lasting only a few seconds, used computer animation to simulate the LEGO bricks.

Entertainment Weekly said that "the images enhance the lyrics...You can take the metaphor even deeper. As with Legos, love and sex can ultimately take whatever form your imagination desires." Entertainment Weekly included it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "An idea so simple it's a wonder no one thought of it before 2002: rock & roll Legos!" Pitchfork deemed it the best video of the decade.

The video was spoofed on the Family Guy episode "Ocean's Three and a Half".

The music video won the 2002 MTV Video Music Award for Breakthrough Video, Best Special Effects, Best Editing and was nominated for a Video of the Year.

Track listings

CD single

1. "Fell in Love with a Girl"
2. "Let's Shake Hands"
3. "Lafayette Blues"

CD single (UK Version – Part 2)^*

1. "Fell in Love with a Girl"
2. "Lovesick" (Live at the Forum, London December 6, 2001)
3. "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (Live at BBC Radio-1 Evening Session)^**

The single comes with a multimedia section featuring the "Fell in Love with a Girl" video. ^*Part 1 with the identical track listing as the US Version.

7" single

1. "Fell in Love with a Girl"
2. "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (Live at BBC Radio-1 Evening Session)^**

^**This is the same recording of the song that would one year later be an album track on Elephant and eventually be released as a single.

Joss Stone version

In 2003, English singer Joss Stone covered the song, retitled "Fell in Love with a Boy", for her debut studio album, The Soul Sessions (2003). It was released on January 26, 2004 as the album's lead single.

Critical reception

The single received mostly positive reviews from critics. Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian raved that "Fell in Love with a Boy" is the best track from The Soul Sessions as well as "the freshest and most deliciously inauthentic." PopMatters reviewer Jason MacNeil commented that Stone gives the song "a groove-riddled, funky hip-shaker that never loses momentum." Rolling Stone said the tune sounded like "a lost Memphis-soul classic." However, Jim Greer of Entertainment Weekly viewed her version as "the only misguided ploy" on the album. Andrew McGregor wrote for BBC Music that it "blends so well into the funky soul landscape that those less familiar with contemporary rock might miss the ironic juxtaposition altogether."

Track listings

UK CD single

1. "Fell in Love with a Boy" (radio version) – 2:25
2. "Victim of a Foolish Heart" (live at Ronnie Scott's, London, November 25, 2003) – 6:25

European CD single

1. "Fell in Love with a Boy" (radio version) – 2:25
2. "Victim of a Foolish Heart" (live at Ronnie Scott's, London, November 25, 2003) – 6:25
3. "Fell in Love with a Boy" (acoustic version) – 3:30

UK 7" single

A. "Fell in Love with a Boy" (radio version) – 2:25B. "Super Duper Love (Are You Diggin' on Me?) Pt. 1" – 4:20

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of The Soul Sessions.

Other appearances

The Acoustic Album (2006, Virgin)

This song was released as a DLC song for the music video game Rock Band on March 9, 2010.

American rock band Of Montreal performed a version of the song in May 2011 for The A.V. Club's A.V. Undercover series.

In the Academy Award-winning film Silver Linings Playbook, this song is incorporated into the dance routine that Pat (Bradley Cooper) and Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) perform at the dance competition.

The song was used in a UK television advert for radio station BBC Radio 6 Music. The advert depicted the first dance at a wedding, with the DJ choosing to play The White Stripes as opposed to the chosen song, much to the consternation of the family.