Repetitive? Sure. One of the best songs Blur ever put together? Definitely. Girls & Boys is a staggering occasion, a song which transcends the earworm popularity of a well-laid beat because of its momentum. A tempo and sound like this can only mean bouncing around a club somewhere, or in a sold-out stadium in London. On the surface, it feels like a primitive love song, a story unfolding of back-and-forth want and lust. But Girls & Boys becomes more than that on repeat listens, on the chastisement of nostalgia, a tone Damon Albarn would discuss thoroughly well throughout Parklife, even with the twee remnants of Modern Life is Rubbish overtaking it in spots. Girls & Boys feels removed from the times, though, a counter-culture with a very accessible tone and message. Pull away at the layers and find a great track.
A single so brilliant even The Pet Shop Boys tried their hand at a cover. Girls & Boys has all the bounce and vibrancy of a well-timed punch of club-adjacent adrenalin. Slick bass work from Alex James makes sure of it while backing vocals from Graham Coxon on one of the few tracks from Blur not making the most of his guitar keep him in the mix. It cuts through well in the build towards the chorus but the focus is on the roar of special effects, the cymbal taps and the space-age snippets which come together and make a well-layered instrumental piece for Blur pop in all the right places. Intimacy of any type is a beautiful modern-day read on Girls & Boys, and the obvious moments to its chorus keep it thriving, the fire is burning, ever strong as Albarn cuts through with some vocal interjections and the “oohs” which broke off from the lad culture of the times.
Girls & Boys certainly stands as one of the best Blur tracks – be it the constant boom of fulfilled happiness or the roaring instrumentals and synth additions which bring out a repetitive, sharp tone. It is this repetition which lets Girls & Boys thrive that little bit more, the energy it pursues and manages to capture is sincerely one of the best lines Albarn has written, and yet it remains so simple. A fine blur between repetitive and memorable is struck, and from there the song, even its B-Sides, thrive. Magpie feels like a continuation of those instrumental roars, a soft Madchester tone from their Leisure days presented and then crushed under some soft punk keyboards which would make Elvis Costello weep.
But those little flickers of Modern Life is Rubbish present themselves on Anniversary Waltz, a brief and messy bit of carnival-like music which Blur was obsessed with. They managed to keep it off of future releases but their funhouse tones always felt a little obsessed with the past, a giveaway of their influences. It does little to affect either Girls & Boys or the exceptional deep cut Magpie, but there it lingers on the back end of this singles release. Girls & Boys remains one of the best efforts from a band whose songwriting remains intelligent, articulate and often deeply moving. Girls & Boys may not be any of that, and yet it proves Blur can work for everyone – a song of monumental proportions because the conviction it carries, the confidence Albarn brings to it, is enough to make it work.
