Een nummer waar ik goede herinneringen aan heb is Is She Really Going Out With Him van de Engelse singer/songwriter & Joe Jackson, maar dan wel in de acapella versie. Begin jaren 80 werd ik gegrepen door vocale groepen als The Nylons, The Flying Pickets & The King’s Singers. En ik wilde ook zelf graag dat soort muziek acapella gaan zingen. Mijn eerste ervaring was het zingen van dit nummer samen met een groep mensen, alleen kan ik me niet meer herinneren wie of waar of wanneer precies, omdat het maar van korte duur was.

Jackson vertelt zelf het volgende over de inspiratie voor zijn lied: “I heard that phrase somewhere, and I thought that could be a kind of funny song about gorgeous girls going out with monsters. It just started from there. It was just a funny song, or supposed to be funny. It was a great surprise to me when some people interpreted it as being angry.”

Het originele nummer was de debuut single van Joe Jackson uit 1978 en kreeg een plek op zijn debuutalbum Look Sharp. Maar het werd pas een jaar later een succes, toen hij meer bekendheid had gekregen. Deze acapella versie komt uit een concert in Hamburg in 1983 voor het programma Rockpalast.

Is She Really Going Out With Him
Pretty women out walking
with gorillas down my street.
From my window I’m staring
while my coffee grows cold.
Look over there (where?) there,
there’s a lady that I used to know.
She’s married now, or engaged,
or something, so I am told.

Is she really going out with him?
Is she really gonna take him home tonight?
Is she really going out with him?
‘Cause if my eyes don’t deceive me
there’s something going wrong around here.

Tonight’s the night when I go
to all the parties down my street.
I wash my hair and I kid myself
I look real smooth.
Look over there (where?), there,
here comes Jeanie with her new boyfriend.
They say that looks don’t count for much.
If so, there goes your proof.

Is she really going out with him?
Is she really gonna take him home tonight?
Is she really going out with him?
‘Cause if my eyes don’t deceive me
there’s something going wrong around here.

But if looks could kill,
there’s a man there
who’s more down as dead.
‘Cause I’ve had my fill.
Listen you, take your hands
from her head.
I get so mean around this scene.

Is she really going out with him?
Is she really gonna take him home tonight?
Is she really going out with him?
‘Cause if my eyes don’t deceive me
there’s something going wrong around here.

Something going wrong around here.
Something going wrong around here.