Recorded 1976 Label A&M - AMS 7392 | Length 3:33 | |
B-side "You Got the Fever" (UK)
"(Do the) Instant Mash" (US) Released September 1978
May 3, 1979 (reissue) Genre Pop rock, new wave, power pop | ||
"Is She Really Going Out with Him?" is the first single released by British musician Joe Jackson in September 1978. The track, which was to achieve greater commercial success when reissued in 1979, was included on Jackson's debut album, Look Sharp!.
Contents
Background
According to Joe Jackson, the song originated from when he heard the title. From there, he came up with the basis for the song lyrics of "pretty women" dating "gorillas." He said of the songs origins in an interview:
Now, that is just one of those songs that started with the title. I heard that phrase somewhere and I thought that could be a kind of funny song about gorgeous girls going out with monsters. It just started from there. It was just a funny song, or supposed to be funny. It was a great surprise to me when some people interpreted it as being angry.
Initially being released as a single in 1978, the song saw little chart success, failing to chart in both Britain and America. However, when the single was reissued in the summer of 1979 (catalogue number AMS 7459), the song saw greater success, reaching #13 in Britain and #21 in America. It also appeared in the charts in Australia, Canada and the Netherlands.
The UK B-side of the single, "You Got the Fever" was a non-album track that later appeared as a bonus track on later reissues of Look Sharp! In the U.S., however, "(Do the) Instant Mash," which also appeared on Look Sharp!, was issued as the B-side instead.
An alternate recording of the song was released as the B-side to Jackson's 1981 single, "Beat Crazy." The song was featured in the 1998 romantic comedy film, There's Something About Mary, The Simpsons episode "Rome-Old and Juli-Eh" and Live From Daryl's House episode No. 3 with the Plain White T's.
Live performances
Live versions appeared on Live 1980/86 (containing three versions of the song including an acoustic version and an a cappella doo-wop version)", on Two Rainy Nights in 2002, and on the bonus CD of Volume 4 in 2003.
Kid Courageous version
A cover of the song was the first single released by Australian pop punk band Kid Courageous, and charted #25 on the ARIA Singles Charts and #3 on the Australian Independent Charts. This was the leading single from the band's debut album Dear Diary.
Track listing
Adapted from the liner notes:
Other cover versions
Alternative rock band Sugar Ray recorded a cover of the song for their fifth studio album In the Pursuit of Leisure.