My Boyfriend's Back (2:13)

“My Boyfriend’s Back” was a hit song in 1963 for The Angels, an American girl group. It was written by the songwriting team of Feldman, Goldstein and Gottehrer, who later invented themselves as The Strangeloves. The recording was originally intended as a demo for The Shirelles, but ended up being released as recorded. The result was a single that spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number two on the R&B Billboard.

The song is a word of warning to a would-be suitor who, after the narrator of the song rebuffed his advances, went on to spread nasty rumours accusing the narrator’s of romantic indiscretions. Now, the narrator declares, her boyfriend is back and ready to settle the score, and she tells the rebuffed would-be suitor to watch his back.

“My Boyfriend’s Back” has been the subject of several notable cover versions.

Rival girl groups The Chiffons and Martha and the Vandellas recorded covers shortly after The Angels’ original release. Nearly twenty years later, Melissa Manchester released a faithful cover version as a single in 1983 which became a minor Adult Contemporary hit. More than twenty years after that, the song was also covered by former American Idol contestant Paris Bennett on her 2007 album “Princess P.”

The song has also been covered in punk rock-influenced recordings by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, The Raveonettes, Bracket, and Australian female punk trio The Spazzys.

Bette Bright and the Illuminations released a cover version in 1978 as their single debut.