The Go-Gos – Our Lips Are Sealed

He Mailed Her The Lyrics From England After Their Secret Affair

Released in June 1981, The Go-Go’s “Our Lips Are Sealed” began when Terry Hall of The Specials mailed Jane Wiedlin lyrics after she returned to Los Angeles following their brief romance during the band’s 1980 UK tour. Hall had a girlfriend back in England, making the affair particularly dramatic and perfectly suited to the song’s theme of secrecy amid gossip. Wiedlin completed the lyrics and wrote all the music, terrified to show it to her bandmates. The single reached number twenty on the Billboard Hot 100 but demonstrated unusual longevity, remaining on the charts for thirty weeks until March 1982. It peaked at number two in Australia and number three in Canada, becoming the opening track on Beauty and the Beat, which topped the Billboard 200 for six consecutive weeks starting in March 1982, making The Go-Go’s the first all-female band writing and performing their own material to achieve that milestone.

The chart story reveals MTV’s crucial role in breaking the band when many radio stations refused to play an all-girl group. Record World praised it as innocent and infectious as pop music could be, with a steady pulsating dance beat. It reached number fifteen on Billboard’s Top Rock Tracks and number ten on the Disco Top 80, crossing multiple formats. The slow climb to number twenty took months as The Go-Go’s toured supporting The Police, arranged by IRS Records boss Miles Copeland, whose brother Stewart drummed for The Police. Follow-up single “We Got the Beat” climbed faster, peaking at number two in April 1982. Rolling Stone and MTV placed their version at number 57 on their list of 100 Greatest Pop Songs in 2000, then at number 477 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2021. The Go-Go’s performed it at their 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony alongside “Vacation” and “We Got the Beat.”

Wiedlin met Hall in 1980 after The Specials watched The Go-Go’s perform at The Whisky on Sunset Strip and invited them to open on their tour. The romance developed quickly despite Hall’s existing relationship. After Wiedlin returned home, Hall mailed her initial lyrics that captured the tension of keeping their relationship hidden from public scrutiny and the press. Wiedlin loved the words immediately and finished writing the lyrics while composing all the music herself. The double meaning worked brilliantly, referencing both their lips being sealed through silence and sealed together in kisses. The song addressed rumors and jealousy with lines like can you hear them, they talk about us, telling lies, and the defiant chorus insisting it doesn’t matter what they say in the jealous games people play. Producer Richard Gottehrer later noted the recordings were vastly different between The Go-Go’s upbeat version and Fun Boy Three’s gloomier take, adding that Terry Hall’s version came from a more serious place.

Recording took place at Pennylane Studios in New York during spring 1981, produced by Richard Gottehrer and Rob Freeman, who’d previously worked with Blondie and The Ramones. Freeman captured the sessions through a Trident TSM console onto a 24-track Otari MTR-90 two-inch tape machine. The studio featured wooden floors, walls, and ceiling designed with slats that reflected certain frequencies while absorbing others into insulation behind them. Freeman placed drummer Gina Schock near the control room glass to capture bright acoustic reflections, baffling the guitar and bass amps for isolation. Mixing happened at The Record Plant using their Fairchild 670 compressor, EMT 140 plate reverb, Teletronix LA-2A, and UREI 1176 compressor. Belinda Carlisle sang lead vocals with authority and exuberance while Wiedlin performed the bridge. Charlotte Caffey’s chiming arpeggio guitar notes and Kathy Valentine’s rolling bass created interlocking parts that fit together like chain links beneath the chugging chord intro and solid beat.

“Our Lips Are Sealed” served as The Go-Go’s debut American single and the opening track on Beauty and the Beat, released 14 July 1981 on IRS Records. Capitol Records had previously rejected them, stating no female band had a track record worth investing in. IRS was considered the label artists went to when they couldn’t secure deals with real labels, known mainly for The Buzzcocks and Oingo Boingo. The band initially hated producer Gottehrer for slowing down their songs and making them more pop-friendly, fearing their Los Angeles punk peers would think they’d sold out. For months they didn’t speak to him, and Miles Copeland accused him of ruining the band. When Beauty and the Beat hit number one and became the second best-selling album of 1982, eventually going double platinum, they finally accepted his vision. The album proved female rock bands could write their own material and compete at the highest commercial level.

Terry Hall’s Fun Boy Three version tells its own fascinating story. Recorded in late 1982 at Wessex Sound Studios with production by David Byrne of Talking Heads, it featured Mo-dettes drummer June Miles-Kingston on drums and backing vocals. Released in 1983, it peaked at number seven in the UK for the week ending 14 May, holding that position for one week before dropping. It spent ten weeks on the chart total, far surpassing The Go-Go’s UK performance where their version peaked at number 47 in 1982. Wiedlin told Uncut magazine she was shocked when she heard Fun Boy Three’s moody version, noting Terry didn’t keep a copy of the lyrics because he got some words wrong. The Hilary and Haylie Duff sisters covered it for A Cinderella Story in 2004, peaking at number eight in Australia. Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles recorded a version for their 2013 album Under the Covers, Vol. 1, acknowledging The Go-Go’s influence on inspiring all-female rock bands.

The low-budget Derek Burbidge-directed music video achieved iconic status despite its simplicity. Shot in mid-1981 around Los Angeles shortly before MTV launched, it showed the band performing in a small club intercut with them having carefree fun on a sunny day. They rented a Buick convertible that Carlisle drove around with her bandmates, parking in front of a lingerie shop on La Cienega Boulevard where Wiedlin sang her bridge part while Carlisle ducked down in the front seat. Much of the video featured them playing in the Beverly Hills Electric Fountain, a trope later popularized in the Friends opening credits. Wiedlin recalled expecting police to arrive any moment, thinking that would be so cool. Years later she looked back fondly despite having horrible eighties poodle hair, appreciating the simplicity and innocence. MTV gave the video heavy rotation, breaking the song when radio stations remained reluctant. Capitol’s initial assessment proved spectacularly wrong as The Go-Go’s rewrote the rules for female rock bands.

The band’s origin story adds context to their triumph. Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin, and Margot Olaverra bonded at Los Angeles punk shows by The Germs and The Dickies, sitting on a Venice curb with beers and cigarettes talking about starting their own band. None were professional musicians. They made a pact that night which Carlisle later described as transformative. By 1981 the classic lineup of Carlisle, Wiedlin, Schock, Caffey, and Valentine had formed. Carlisle admitted in her memoir they were either drinking and partying in the studio or hung-over from the night before, giving producers Freeman and Gottehrer their hands full. When they played “Our Lips Are Sealed” on Saturday Night Live as musical guests on 14 November 1981, they imbibed backstage before performing, immediately realizing it was a mistake when they took the stage. Yet nothing could stop their momentum. As Wiedlin reflected years later, the song has been so good to her, making her career as a songwriter and continuing to help even her solo work. That letter Terry Hall mailed from England created something that tied them together in music history forever.