The Girl I Used to Know

"The Girl I Used to Know" is a 1990 pop single from the boyband Brother Beyond. It marked a return for the band to the British chart scene after a year and a half period of absence. The song also saw a change in the band's musical direction as this track was more funk-orientated and had less of the Motown sound of their earlier work. Written by Pete Waterman, the song was produced by Stock Aitken Waterman.

Chart success

Unfortunately, this song only reached No.36 in the UK Charts as interest in the band had begun to wane after the public had grown tired of Stock Aitken Waterman from the beginning of 1990. In the Netherlands, Italy and France where the song was also released, it failed to even chart. However, the song did make the Top 10 surprisingly in Portugal where it is sung today by supporters of FC Porto in a chant form.^[1] In Ireland where the band had enjoyed moderate success, the song stalled at No 65.

Performances

Prior to the song's commercial release, the band featured as guests on ITV's Sunday morning children's programme The Disney Club where the song made its debut. On its week of release, and on its only week in the UK Top 40 in January 1991, the group performed this song live on Top of the Pops as the opening act in an episode that featured live performances from Tina Turner and Bryan Adams among others. The following week, the song crashed out of the Top 100.

The saxophone featured in the song is played by Harry Denzil.

Music video

A video for the song directed by Anton Corbijn featuring the band driving in a convertible motor was shot in the Sahara Desert in southern Morocco in November 1990.^[2] These were interspersed with black and white studio scenes of the band performing.

References