Les Rita Mitsouko – Andy

A June single named for Andy Capp

In June 1986, Les Rita Mitsouko released Andy on Virgin France. It was the lead single from The No Comprendo, their second studio album, which came out on 20 September 1986. The 7-inch B-side was Un soir, un chien. Twelve-inch copies also carried Bad Days. Fred Chichin and Catherine Ringer wrote the song. They produced it with Tony Visconti. The album was recorded at Studio Good Earth in London and at Studio Rita Mitsouko in Paris. On the LP, Andy is track two and runs about 5 minutes and 24 seconds. The single is listed at 5:22. Ringer and Chichin had met in Paris in 1979 and first played as Rita Mitsouko at the Gibus in 1980. Their previous hit, Marcia Baïla, produced by Conny Plank, had reached number 2 in France in 1985.

Around this release the duo put "Les" in front of the name, so listeners would not take Rita Mitsouko for one person. The Andy in the lyric is Andy Capp, the idle husband in the British comic strip drawn by Reg Smythe since 1957, not Andy Warhol. The singer gets his name from a friend, follows him, and asks him home. He stays polite and goes back to his own house. Ringer sings it over a fast beat, with Chichin’s guitar. On this album the two of them play most of the parts. Visconti adds bass, acoustic guitar, drums and strings from track to track.

The single reached number 19 on the French chart. In the United States it reached number 11 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Play chart, helped by Jesse Johnson remixes on the American 12-inch. The CD of the album adds an English vocal, about 5 minutes and 55 seconds, with the same arrangement. Philippe Gautier directed the video, in a French version and an English one.