"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"
ReleasedAugust 1992
GenreRock
Length5:32 (album version)
4:18 (single edit)
LabelReprise
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
The B-52's singles chronology
"Good Stuff"
(1992)		 "Is That You Mo-Dean?"
(1992)		 "Tell It Like It T-I-Is"
(1992)

"Is That You Mo-Dean?" is a song by The B-52's released as the second single from their album Good Stuff.

Origins

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]

Release and reception

Despite the success of the previous single "Good Stuff", the song failed to chart in most of the territories. It nevertheless became one of the most popular tracks from Good Stuff and a live favorite for many years.[2]

The CD and 12" singles for the song have various remixes of "Is That You Mo-Dean?" by Moby.

The new 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

7"
  1. "Is That You Mo-Dean?" (Edit) – 4:18
  2. "Good Stuff" (LP Version) – 5:59
12"
  1. "Is That You Mo-Dean?" (Interdimension Mix) – 6:32
  2. "Is That You Mo-Dean?" (Liquid Sky Dub) – 6:13
  3. "Tell It Like It T-I-Is" (MK Dub) – 6:19
  4. "Is That You Mo-Dean?" (Harpapella) – 3:07
  • Tracks 1, 2 and 4 remixed by Moby.
  • Track 3 remixed by MK.

Charts

Chart performance for "Is That You Mo-Dean?"
Chart (1992) Peak
position
UK Singles (OCC)[3] 79

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 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.
  2. ↑ "The B-52's Songs played total". setlist.fm. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  3. ↑ "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.
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