McDonald's Girl

Album: Rumpled Romeo (1981)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • A track from Dean Friedman's third album, this one finds him falling in love with a girl who works at McDonald's - an angel in polyester. Friedman's second album produced hits in the UK with "Lucky Stars" and "Lydia," but this one ran into a problem: the BBC refused to play any song where the name of a product or company was mentioned in a way they could be considered an endorsement. The Kinks got around this by swapping out "Coca-Cola" for "cherry cola" in their song "Lola," but there was no way to edit this one. In our Dean Friedman interview, he said: "I thought 'McDonald's Girl' was a surefire hit. It was released by CBS Records in the UK. But it was immediately banned by the BBC.
  • In their early year, the Barenaked Ladies played this song at concerts, and in 1992 they played it on an appearance on the Toronto radio station CFNY. In 1998, a Minnesota group called The Blenders released their version as a single, and it went to #1 in Norway. In 2011, their version was used in a commercial for McDonald's.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Grateful Dead Characters

Grateful Dead CharactersMusic Quiz

Many unusual folks appear in Grateful Dead songs. Can you identify them?

David Bowie Lyrics Quiz

David Bowie Lyrics QuizMusic Quiz

How well do you know your David Bowie lyrics? Take this quiz to find out.

Metallica

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Gavin Rossdale of Bush

Gavin Rossdale of BushSongwriter Interviews

On the "schizoid element" of his lyrics, and a famous line from "Everything Zen."

Music Video Director David Hogan

Music Video Director David HoganSong Writing

David talks about videos he made for Prince, Alabama, Big & Rich, Sheryl Crow, DMB, Melissa Etheridge and Sisters of Mercy.

16 Songs With a Heartbeat

16 Songs With a HeartbeatSong Writing

We've heard of artists putting their hearts into their music, but some take it literally.