The Boys Light Up (song)

"The Boys Light Up" is the second single and title track released by Australian rock band Australian Crawl from their debut album The Boys Light Up (1980). The song was written by lead singer James Reyne[1][2]

"The Boys Light Up"
Single by Australian Crawl
from the album The Boys Light Up
A-side"The Boys Light Up"
B-side"Boot Hill"
ReleasedApril 1980
GenreAustralian pub rock
Length4:41
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)James Reyne
Producer(s)David Briggs
Australian Crawl singles chronology
"Beautiful People"
(1979)		 "The Boys Light Up"
(1980)		 "Downhearted"
(1980)

Australian Crawl's producer David Briggs was the Little River Band's guitarist, and had helped them to a recording contract with EMI.[3] "The Boys Light Up" peaked at #22 on the Australian Singles Chart.[4]

The song contains the neologism "dorseted", to rhyme with "corseted".

"People aren't used to hearing 'Dorseted', and it's not actually a word - it's from the Dorset Gardens - I'm trying to be as suburban as possible, and it rhymed with 'corseted'." - James Reyne, 2003[5]

The single was almost banned from radio play and some TV shows due to its explicit lyrics.[6] Reyne makes observations about cocktail parties that his parents attended, including where one of his teachers was caught in the garden with someone else's wife.[5] Many listeners believe the chorus lyrics are about smoking marijuana but Reyne has stated that it was about smoking tobacco cigarettes when he was in Form Four at The Peninsula School.[5]

In an interview with Peter Thompson on the ABC Television program Talking Heads, broadcast on 31 May 2010, Reyne answered a question on what the song was about, "Well, really? It's about fellatio, but[...] it was also about the sort of burgeoning, you know, kind of... new middle class, the new money and the new money aspirational... uh... class."[7]

Track listing
  1. "The Boys Light Up" (James Reyne)[1] - 4:41
  2. "Boot Hill" (Reyne)[1] - 2:36

Charts
Chart (1980) Peak
position
Australian (Kent Music Report)[8] 22

References
  1. "Australasian Performing Right Association". APRA. Archived from the original on 24 January 2008. Retrieved 7 March 2008.
  2. Holmgren, Magnus; Warnqvist, Stefan; Draper, Oliver; McDonough, Bill. "Australian Crawl". Australian Rock Database. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  3. McFarlane, Ian (1999). Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop (doc). Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86448-768-2. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
  4. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  5. "Love is in the air Episode 5: "National Anthems"; transcript of interview with James Reyne". ABC-TV. 9 November 2003. Archived from the original on 28 January 2008. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
  6. "Memorable TV Oz Rock: Australian Crawl entry". Memorable TV / Little Acorns Publishing. Archived from the original on 24 May 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
  7. "Talking Heads – James Reyne [transcript]". Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). 31 May 2010. Archived from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  8. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 21. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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