["Come on and hold me, hug me","The way that we talk","Comes back to bite your behind","The way that we walk","Say you love me and not my dirty brain","Why don't you fool me, feed me","","Say you need me without wicked games","Come on and hold me, hug me","","The magic number's in front of me","And the beat and the beat gets closer","You dive for the thrill at the kill but your heart’s","Closer, your minds firing blind with your head","A girl’s got to zip it up","The way that we walk","Say you love me and not my dirty brain","You can’t mistake my Biology","I got one Alabama return","And get her head in the shade","So easily caught","","You wanted to freeze but you're weak in too deep","It's there in our thoughts","Come on and hold me, hug me","","We'll start a fire of pure desire","Say you need me without wicked games","Says you're neat and the beat gets closer","Say you love me and not my dirty brain","","We’re gonna cause a controversy","Had its fill but it still creeps closer","The way that we walk","You fall on your knees and the geek at your feet","The way that we walk","The way that we talk","The way that we talk","","The way that we talk","","Before all the heavy stuff","The way that we talk","Why don't you fool me, feed me","","","The way that we talk","Say you need me without wicked games","Say you love me and not my dirty brain","Come on and hold me, hug me","We give it up","Say you need me without wicked games","It's there in our thoughts","The way that we talk","'Cause when you take me in your arms","So easily caught","And then they take it away","That'll take me far away from you","In your face getting red in your heart beats closer","'Cause if we party anymore","","Why don't you fool me, feed me","","It's there in our thoughts","So easily caught","Baby, if we give it up","It's there in our thoughts","The magic number's in front of me","","The way that we walk","Closer, closer, closer, closer, closer, closer, closer","So easily caught","","","It's just a matter of time","So I got my Ccappuccino to go","You can’t mistake my Biology","Why don't you fool me, feed me","You can’t mistake my Biology","","I turn to slave but I can't be saved","The way that we walk","","The way that we talk","We’re gonna cause a controversy","The way that we walk","You can’t mistake my Biology","The way that we walk","And I’m heading for the hills again",""]
Performed by: Girls Aloud Written by: Eric Victor Burdon; Miranda Eleanor D Cooper; Lisa Cowling; Brian Thomas Higgins; Timothy Martin Powell; Alan Price; Giselle Robe Sommerville
Credits: Burdon, Eric Victor (Songwriter); Cooper, Miranda Eleanor D (Songwriter); Cowling, Lisa (Songwriter); Higgins, Brian Thomas (Songwriter); Powell, Timothy Martin (Songwriter); Price, Alan (Songwriter); Sommerville, Giselle Robe (Songwriter); WARNER/CHAPPELL MUSIC LTD (Publisher); XENOMANIA SONGS LTD (Publisher)
"Biology" is a song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, written and produced by Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania. Released on 14 November 2005, the single was the second to be taken from Girls Aloud's third studio album Chemistry. "Biology" was commercially successful, returning Girls Aloud to the top five on the UK Singles Chart. "Biology" was critically acclaimed, being called "the best pop single of the last decade".[1]
Higgins and Xenomania created "Biology" in reaction to "Long Hot Summer", which Higgins called "a disaster record."[2] Higgins continued, "I think that it is a wonderful record - so uplifting. It meant so much to us and it really set Chemistry up well."[2] The track is made up of distinct sections. One of which (used in the intro, a middle section and the outro) is based on the main riff from The Animals' "Club A-Gogo".[3] The lyric referring to "wicked games", which is mentioned in the Animals-inspired riff, was inspired by Girls Aloud almost releasing a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" as a single.[4] The artwork for the "Biology" maxi CD single (pictured right) was inspired by UKpunk band X-Ray Spex's album cover Germ Free Adolescents. Both covers show each member in a different pose, trapped inside a large vial.
"Biology" was released as a single in Australia in early 2006.
Critical reception
"Biology" received almost universal acclaim from music critics. Peter Cashmore, writing for The Guardian, described "Biology" as "the best pop single of the last decade".[5]Stylus Magazine also praised the song.[6] The song was listed at number 245 on Pitchfork Media's "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s" list.[7]
The song was particularly notable for its informal structure. Popjustice referred to the song as "pop music which redefines the supposed boundaries of pop music."[8]BBC Music said "the girls rip through a variety of styles, paces and Neneh Cherry-esque raps [...] all within the same song."[9]Virgin Media praised the song for "blending the kind of saucy cabaret you'd expect to find in a gin-soaked saloon bar with a glorious chorus of fizzing, gliding synths and deceptively breakneck beats."[10] The song was described as "about as far from tired formula as you can possibly get. It sounds like three separate melodies condensed into one, from the Muddy Waters-apeing riff at the start, through to the glorious pop sheen of the verses, and having the sheer balls to wait two minutes before even introducing a chorus."[11]
In September 2006, "Biology" won the award for the Popjustice £20 Music Prize, an annual prize awarded by a panel of judges organised by music website Popjustice to the singer(s) of the best British pop single of the past year. Girls Aloud had previously won the award in 2003 and 2005 for "No Good Advice" and "Wake Me Up" respectively.
Music video
The music video for "Biology" was directed by production team Harvey & Carolyn for Alchemy Films, with art direction from Maria Chryssikos.[12][13] It consists only of group shots. The video begins with a curtain being drawn back to reveal the band members posed in black jazz dresses. Nadine Coyle, perched upon a black grand piano, sings the jazz intro. In a sequence of disjointed choreography, the girls "morph" into frilly pink and purple dresses as the scene changes to a room with flowery wallpaper and digitised butterflies floating by. The band changes into red and black outfits and black outfits as the scene changes twice more.
Track listings and formats
These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Biology".
The single saw a return to the top five on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number four.[14] The song spent a total of ten weeks in the UK's top 75.[15] "Biology" peaked at number seven on the Irish Singles Chart, also spending ten weeks in Ireland's top fifty.[16] "Biology" peaked at number twenty-six on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart.[16]
