“Denis” Single by Blondie from the album Plastic Letters
B-side “I’m on E” (US), “Contact in Red Square” / “Kung-Fu Girls” (UK)
Released February 1978
Recorded 1977
Label Chrysalis
Songwriter Neil Levenson
Producer Richard Gottehrer
Charted No.2 in UK, No.1 Belgium, No.9 in Germany.
This was a cover of a Randy & The Rainbows song “Denise,” which reached #10 in America in 1963. The song was written by Neil Levenson after meeting a girl called Denise Lefrak. He originally called it “Pretty Girl” before changing it the title to “Denise.”
The initial Blondie version contained a verse with partly improvised lyrics in French by the group’s vocalist Debbie Harry.
“Denis” was released in February 1978 and scored a number 2 in the UK and broke into the Top 20 in most European countries, including number 1 in Netherlands. In the UK, the song was kept at number 2 for three weeks, first by Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” and then by Brian and Michael’s “Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs”.[18] Just like “Rip Her to Shreds”, the single was issued on both 7″ and 12″ formats in the UK, and both feature two B-sides, “Contact in Red Square” from Plastic Letters and “Kung-Fu Girls” from Blondie. “Denis” was the only single released in the US from Plastic Letters (with “I’m on E” as the B-side) though it never charted. In 1988, a remixed version of the track was issued as a single from the Blondie/Debbie Harry remix compilation Once More into the Bleach. This time the single reached number 50 in the UK.
