Song · Fun Boy Three
“Our Lips Are Sealed” by Fun Boy Three
From the album Waiting (1983)
“Our Lips Are Sealed” by Fun Boy Three appears on 7 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 1988 and 2025. It was first released in 1983 on the album Waiting. Its best result is #287 on the Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #3,421 alternative song of all time.
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By 1983 the song already had a famous owner. Terry Hall had written "Our Lips Are Sealed" with Jane Wiedlin, the Go-Go's guitarist, and her band had cut it first, back in 1981. So when Hall's own group, Fun Boy Three, took it on for their album Waiting, they had to make it theirs.
They brought in David Byrne to produce, with Jeremy Green engineering, and put Hall, the voice that had fronted the Specials, right up front. Issued as a single, their version went into the UK top ten, proof that a co-writer can claim his own song back.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 287 | Live 105 | Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988) | 501 |
| 1989 | 297 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) | 495 |
| 1991 | 375 | WOXY 97X | WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991) | 500 |
| 2002 | 1412 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 1528 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2024 | 739 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Cover Songs | 850 |
| 2025 | 612 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Mood Booster Songs | 800 |
Also listed as: Our Lips are Sealed.
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