Boys and Girls (song)

Boys and Girls is the title of a song recorded and released by the British group The Human League. It was written by band members Adrian Wright and Philip Oakey and released as a single in February 1981. It was the group's first single after the band had split in late 1980. The cover shows a photograph of Oakey and Wright together with newly recruited members Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall who had joined the group for live touring in late 1980, although do not feature on the recording of the song itself.

Single release
The single was released as a 7" disc on Virgin records In February 1981, with initial limited copies packaged in a gatefold sleeve.

The B side was another new track, an instrumental entitled Tom Baker, a homage to the actor and to his best known role of Doctor Who. The track is in the style of the kind of incidental music used in the show at the time.

The single release was much publicised, and advertised although it failed to make the Top 40 in the UK, reaching only no.48, although would be The Human League's last single not to do so until 1986.

John Peel previewed the single on his show the week before its release and Smash Hits printed the lyrics to Boys and Girls with a full colour photo in early March.

Boys and Girls


 * 7" single Virgin VS395

A. Boys and Girls

B. Tom Baker

Re-releases
The two tracks remained exclusive to the single release until being included on a remastered expanded version of the 1980 album Travelogue in 2003.

Boys and Girls was not included on any Human League singles collection until 2016 when it featured on the comprehensive A Very British Synthesizer Group anthology.