Is That You Mo-Dean?
"Is That You Mo-Dean?" is a song by The B-52's released as the second single from their album Good Stuff. It was written by all the band members. The song originated from a stage chant the band would play in their early days to fill time on the frequent occasions when guitarist Ricky Wilson would break a guitar string.[1] Lead singer Fred Schneider would call and respond "Is that you, Mo-Dean?" with the audience (a name derived from Maureen ("Mo") Dean, wife of Watergate scandal lawyer John Dean, but here used as the name of an imaginary alien prankster).[1] He would alternate between this and asking the audience if there were any questions — but unable to make out the responses, he would instead just invent questions on his own and respond to them.[1] Fred would continue until Ricky had fixed his strings, and the show would resume.[1]
"Is That You Mo-Dean?" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Single by The B-52's | ||||
from the album Good Stuff | ||||
B-side | "Tell It Like It T-I-Is" | |||
Released | August 1992 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 5:32 (album version) | |||
Label | Reprise | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | ||||
The B-52's singles chronology | ||||
|
Despite the success of the previous single "Good Stuff", the song failed to chart. It nevertheless became one of the most popular tracks from Good Stuff and a live favorite for many years. The CD and 12" singles for the song have various remixes of "Is That You Mo-Dean?" by Moby.
The single edit of the song was included on the band's greatest hits compilation Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation. The music video for the song was featured on The B-52s’ music video collection The B-52's Time Capsule: Videos for a Future Generation 1979-1998.
Track listing
- "Is That You Mo-Dean?" (Interdimension Mix) – 6:32
- "Is That You Mo-Dean?" (Liquid Sky Dub) – 6:13
- "Tell It Like It T-I-Is" (MK Dub) – 6:19
- "Is That You Mo-Dean?" (Harpapella) – 3:07
Charts
Chart (1992) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Singles (OCC)[2] | 79 |
References
- Simon, Scott (October 15, 2022). "New wave icons The B-52s are on the road for their last tour". Weekend Edition. NPR. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
- "Selected weeks from 'The 76-100 pos. UK-Charts-Thread' thread on UKMix Chart Analysis forum". Retrieved April 28, 2021 – via Imgur. N.B. These chart positions are not available on the Official Charts site, but were published in Music Week magazine.