Sexy Boy
by Air

Album: Moon Safari (1998)
Charted: 13
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Songfacts®:

  • This song was written by Jean-Benoît Dunkel and Nicolas Godin, the two-man team behind the French electronica duo Air. It originated when someone lent Dunkel a 1960s Höfner bass, the same model Paul McCartney played in The Beatles.

    "I put it through my guitar amp, which gave this amazing sound: very cool and dry," Godin recalled to The Guardian.

    One day, Godin played a riff for Dunckel, and in response, Dunckel exclaimed out of the blue, "sexy boy."
  • The artistic video for "Sexy Boy" features black-and-white footage of the band on the street together with a stuffed monkey in a T-shirt. This is cut in with minimalist animations of the monkey growing to Godzilla-size and towering over the city, while people point and comment worshipfully.
  • The verse lyrics are in French. Here's the translation:

    Ou sont tes heros
    Au corps d'athlete?
    Ou sont tes idoles
    Mal rases, bien habilles?


    Where are your heroes
    With bodies like athletes?
    Where are your idols?
    Poorly shaved, well dressed

    Dans leurs yeux des dollars
    Dans leurs sourires des diamants
    Moi aussi, un jour
    Je serai beau comme un Dieu


    Money in their eyes
    Diamonds in their smiles
    I too, one day
    Will be as beautiful as a god

    Apollon 2000
    Zero defauts, vingt-et-un ans
    C'est l'homme ideal
    Charme au masculin


    Apollo 2000
    No loss, 21 years
    It's the ideal man
    Of charm and masculinity
  • While the original Moon Safari album was released in 1998, Virgin Records has since re-released it to mark the album's tenth anniversary. Released in 2008, this special edition came with a booklet, DVD, and second CD with live and remix performances.
  • Along with albums and concerts, Air also has a film career. Amongst other film credits, they composed the score to 1999's The Virgin Suicides, which was the first film project of director Sofia Coppola (yes, of those Coppolas!).
  • The lyrics reflected Dunkel and Godin's lack of confidence with women. "If we'd sung 'sexy girl,' it would have been a disaster," Godin reflected in 2016. "'Sexy Boy' felt different. The song was about who we wanted to be; we weren't handsome when we were younger; our friends always had more success with girls."
  • While the name "Air" might seem to allude to the band's being "light as air," it is actually an acronym which stands for the French words "Amour, Imagination, Rêve" that translates to "love, imagination, dream."

Comments: 1

  • Roberta Trevisan from S?o Paulo, BrazilGreat song!! And I thought very nice that "those Coppolas".
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