#RIPTerryHall - Fun Boy Three - Our Lips Are Sealed (1983)
Op de valreep van 2022 verloren we een bepalende muzikale figuur die ons met enige regelmaat behoorlijk wist te charmeren. Een week eerbetoon aan Terry Hall (19 maart 1959 – 18 december 2022).
Vorig jaar nog kon je de fantastische docu op Canvas zien, waarin een bende gepassioneerde madammen vanuit de LA punkscene op een mum van tijd naar de sterren schiet: The Go-Go’s. En Our Lips Are Sealed slaagt erin om, ook na veertig jaar, een kamerbrede smile op onze tronie te schilderen, zowel in de originele versie uit 1981 als de meer onderkoelde van Fun Boy Three, twee jaar later uitgebracht.
Het nummer werd geschreven door gitariste Jane Wiedlin samen met Terry Hall van - toen nog - The Specials, waarmee ze de affiche deelden: "In 1980 we were playing at The Whisky on Sunset Strip, and The Specials were in town from England. They came to see us, and they really liked us and asked us if we would be their opening act on their tour. I met Terry Hall, the singer of The Specials, and ended up having kind of a romance. He sent me the lyrics to Our Lips Are Sealed later in the mail, and it was kind of about our relationship, because he had a girlfriend at home and all this other stuff. So it was all very dramatic. I really liked the lyrics, so I finished the lyrics and wrote the music to it, and the rest is history. And then his band, The Fun Boy Three, ended up recording it, too - they did a really great version of it, also. It was like a lot gloomier than The Go-Go's' version."
Go-Go’s-Producer Richard Gottehrer vult aan: "The recordings are vastly different. They're both really good records. Fun Boy Three comes from a more serious place. I wouldn't say sinister, but it isn't as light as the rumors being spread in the Go-Go's version."