Oops Up Side Your Head

Last updated
"I Don't Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops!)"
I Don't Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops Up Side Your Head) US vinyl 7-inch.jpg
One of side-A labels of the U.S. 7-inch vinyl single
Single by The Gap Band
from the album The Gap Band II
A-side "The Boys Are Back in Town" / "Steppin' (Out)" (UK MERX2)
B-side
  • Main title (UK MERX2)
  • "The Boys Are Back in Town" (UK MER22/X22)
  • "Party Lights" / "The Boys Are Back in Town" (Netherlands)
Released1979
Recorded1979
Genre Funk, disco
Length3:29 (7")
8:39 (12")
Label Mercury
Songwriter(s) Ronnie Wilson, Rudy Taylor, Robert Wilson, Lonnie Simmons, Charlie Wilson
Producer(s) Lonnie Simmons
The Gap Band singles chronology
"Steppin' (Out)"
(1979)
"I Don't Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops!)"
(1979)
"Party Lights"
(1979)

"I Don't Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops!)" (re-titled "Oops Up Side Your Head" on the single as well as being known by other titles such as "Oops Upside Your Head") is a 1979 song recorded by the R&B group the Gap Band. Released off their fourth studio album, The Gap Band II , the song and its parent album both achieved commercial success.

Contents

The single was released in several countries in different formats. In the United States, it was a 12" with the B-side being "Party Lights". In the Netherlands, the 12" B-side was "The Boys Are Back in Town". In France, the single was a 7" with no B-side.

In the UK, the track first surfaced in mid-late 1979 as the B-side of the 12" release of "The Boys Are Back in Town" / "Steppin' (Out)". Then in 1980, due to its popularity, it was flipped and re-titled with just "The Boys Are Back in Town" as the B-side. It was later released once again as the B-side to some copies of the remix version of "Party Lights". In 1987, a 12" remix was released in the UK with a dub version B-side.

The single became an international hit for the group upon its late 1979 release. Though it failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at number two on its Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart), the song hit the top ten on the US R&B and disco charts and became a big-seller outside the US where it peaked at number six in the UK in 1980 and number six in the Netherlands.

Structure

P-Funk influence

Nursery rhyme allusions

Legacy

The song was reworked in 1990 by Eurodance group Snap! for their single "Ooops Up".

In 1996, the song was heavily sampled in Snoop Dogg's "Snoop's Upside Ya Head", which also featured Gap Band lead vocalist Charlie Wilson.

In April 2015, it was announced that the writers of "Oops Up Side Your Head" had had their names added to the writing credits of Mark Ronson's hit single "Uptown Funk". [2]

Football

The phrase "Oops Upside your Head" has been widely repurposed as a Football chant in Britain and Ireland.

In Ireland, the melody is famous as the basis for the chant "Ooh, Ahh, Paul McGrath" (paying homage to the Irish international football player). In 1990, a supergroup of Irish musicians (including Zrazy and Paul Cleary) known as Watch Your House released a single titled "Ooh, Ahh, Paul McGrath" to mark Ireland's entry into the World Cup. The single was unable to receive airplay as the sample from the Gap Band had not been cleared. [3] In the early 2010s, the chant was sampled again by an Irish group - this time the Rubberbandits, with their single "Up The Ra".

Charts

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References

  1. P. Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up) lyrics at LetsSingIt.com
  2. Davidson, Amy (May 1, 2015). "'Uptown Funk' now has 11 co-writers thanks to 'Oops Upside Your Head'". Digital Spy . Hearst Magazines UK . Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  3. Curran, Aidan (2022-05-01). "Watch Your House ft. Paul McGrath – 'Ooh Aah Paul McGrath'". Irish Number Ones. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
  4. "The Gap Band – Oops Up Side Your Head" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  5. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Oops Upside Your Head". Irish Singles Chart.
  6. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 42, 1980" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  7. "The Gap Band – Oops Up Side Your Head" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  8. "Gap Band: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  9. "Bubbling Under the Hot 100" (PDF). Billboard . 5 April 1980. p. 32. Retrieved November 23, 2020.
  10. "The Gap Band Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard.
  11. "The Gap Band Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
  12. "Offiziellecharts.de – The Gap Band – Oops Up Side Your Head" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
  13. "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1980". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  14. "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1980". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved July 3, 2021.