Breakout

Swing Out Sister was formed in 1985 in Manchester, England by keyboardist Andy Connell (who used to be in a Certain Ratio) and drummer Martin Jackson (formerly of Magazine). They were joined by singer Corinne Drewery, who was previously a fashion designer. They got themselves a two-single deal, and the first one was "Blue Mood." Corrine Drewery describes on Remember The '80s the pressure she was under to write the lyrics for the second one: "The second single had to be a hit or we were going to get dropped and there was a lot of pressure on us to get it right. Andy was off on tour with A Certain Ratio, Martin was up in Manchester and I was in London and they kept phoning and asking if I'd finished the lyrics to this song and I got really worried because I wanted it to be perfect - I wanted it to be just right - and the day before the deadline our A&R man phoned up and asked if I'd finished and when I said no he said, 'Oh come on it's only writing a bloody nursery rhyme,' but at that stage I didn't have any ideas and I'd just confused myself and I couldn't discuss it with Andy and Martin because they were off doing their respective things. So I was just sitting in this squat that I was living in, with a microphone plugged into the back of a stereo trying things out but I ended up with like half an hour and the bike was due to pick up the tapes! But maybe that lack of time just forced the best thing out - I just had to record something there and then - I think if anyone had seen how it all came about they would never have taken it seriously! I can remember having the idea the night before but I couldn't record it then because it would make too much noise, but the thing that made me remember it was thinking of a chicken clucking combined with Michael Jackson's 'Thriller.'"

The video was inspired by Corinne Drewery's previous career. It features her as a fashion designer, designing and making her own dress, then modeling it.

This song earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group or Duo.