| "Lonely Boy" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Black Keys | ||||
| from the album El Camino | ||||
| Released | October 26, 2011 | |||
| Format | Download, 12" | |||
| Recorded | 2011 at Dan Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | Garage rock, blues rock[1] | |||
| Length | 3:13 | |||
| Label | Nonesuch Records | |||
| Writer(s) | Dan Auerbach, Patrick Carney, Brian Burton | |||
| Producer | Danger Mouse, The Black Keys | |||
| The Black Keys singles chronology | ||||
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"Lonely Boy" is a song by rock band The Black Keys, and it is the first single[2] from their 2011 album El Camino. The song is also the A-side of a promotional 12-inch single, released in commemoration of Record Store Day's "Back to Black" Friday event.[3]
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The promotional music video for "Lonely Boy" features actor/musician/part-time security guard Derrick T. Tuggle dancing and lip-syncing to the song in the parking lot of a motel. The video, shot in a single take, went viral and garnered more than 400,000 views on YouTube within 24 hours. According to Tuggle, who was cast as an extra, the video was originally supposed to have six or seven other people appear, along with the Black Keys who were set to hand the keys to their motel room to Tuggle. However, his improvised dancing on the set inspired a change to the video. He said, "The director just sort of noticed me dancing and asked me, 'Can you perform?' I said, 'I can dance, anybody can dance,' so I took some moves from everybody: John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction, the Carlton Banks dance from The Fresh Prince and a little bit of Michael Jackson, so it was a smorgasbord of everybody in there." He added, "It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing. My acting teacher Mark McPherson, he has us do this thing before we start class called 'Song and Dance,' where he'll have us sing one of our favorite songs, and then while we're singing it, he'll have us do a crazy dance, or a sexy dance, and I guess it spawned from that."[4][5]
The cover of the single release features an image of a bulldozer sitting on an empty tract of land. The lot is where the factory at which the group's 2004 album Rubber Factory was recorded previously stood. Guitarist Dan Auerbach joked, "We keep stumbling into these profound artistic expressions. That's how we roll though."[6]
Rolling Stone praised the song, giving it four out of five stars, saying that "Frustrated desire is the song's ostensible theme...but for Keys fans, this is a clean hit of instant gratification."[7] Readers of the magazine voted "Lonely Boy" the third-best song of 2011 in an end-of-year poll.[8]
The song has been used for the UFC Primetime event, UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos, in episodes of Workaholics and Hawaii Five-0, in the soundtrack for Need for Speed: The Run and in the first episode of 24/7 (TV series) featuring the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers.
All songs written and composed by Dan Auerbach, Patrick Carney and Brian Burton.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Lonely Boy" | 3:13[9] |
| 2. | "Run Right Back" | 3:17 |
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[10] | 47 |
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[11] | 33 |
| Canada (Active Rock)[12] | 3 |
| Canada (Alternative Rock)[13] | 1 |
| France (SNEP)[14] | 88 |
| Netherlands (Mega Single Top 100)[15] | 80 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[11] | 64 |
| US Alternative Songs (Billboard)[11][16] | 1 |
| US Rock Songs (Billboard)[11][16] | 1 |
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