"Female of the Species" is a song by English

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band

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, released as their fourth single and second single proper from their debut album, ''

Spiders Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species di ...

'' (1996), on 27 May 1996. The song reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart and earned a silver certification from the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

(BPI) in October 2019. It became the band's only charting single in both the United States and Canada.

About the song

Written and sung by frontman Tommy Scott in tribute to his late father, who reportedly disliked his son's taste of music, "Female of the Species" is a funky, upbeat, Latin-flavoured number with feel-good-sounding vibes and vocals, reminiscent of lounge singers such as

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...

and

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

, combined with keyboardist

Franny Griffiths Francis Griffiths (1 July 1966, Liverpool, England) is a keyboardist, producer and remixer, best known as a member of the band Space (UK band), Space. He also plays guitar, melodica and piano. His main influences are Kraftwerk, Hip hop music, hi ...

' trademark sound effects and Scott's darkly humorous lyrics. The song borrows to some extent, both thematically and in overall aesthetic, from

the Walker Brothers The Walker Brothers were an American pop group formed in Los Angeles in 1964 by John Walker (musician), John Walker (real name John Maus) and Scott Walker (singer), Scott Walker (real name Noel Scott Engel), with Gary Walker (musician), Gary Wal ...

theme song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

for the 1967 film ''

Deadlier Than the Male ''Deadlier Than the Male'' is a 1967 British crime and mystery film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Richard Johnson and Elke Sommer. It is one of the many take-offs of James Bond produced during the 1960s, but is based on an already est ...

''. When the song was performed at later concerts, Scott usually walked into the audience to shake them by the hand. The song's distinctive style and lyrics led to it being used in TV and film. It was the theme song to the UK drama ''

Cold Feet ''Cold Feet'' is a British comedy-drama television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV (TV network), ITV network. The series was created and principally written by Mike Bullen as a follow-up to his 1997 Comedy Premieres, Comedy ...

'' and appeared in the 1997 film ''

The Matchmaker ''The Matchmaker'' is a 1954 Broadway play by Thornton Wilder, a rewritten version of his 1938 play '' The Merchant of Yonkers''. History The play has a long and colorful history. John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce ''A Day Well Spent'' ha ...

'' starring Janeane Garofalo, as well as during the end credits of the popular movie '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'' (in the so-called 'Fembot Mix', available on the Original Soundtrack), and in the ''

Daria ''Daria'' is an American adult animation, adult animated sitcom television series created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis, Susie Lewis Lynn. The series ran from March 3, 1997, to January 21, 2002, on MTV. It centers on the titular character, D ...

'' episode "College Bored". It gained further popularity in the UK when used in a 1998 advert (with a cameo appearance by

Quentin Crisp Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt; – ) was an English raconteur, whose work in the public eye included a memoir of his life and various media appearances. Before becoming well known, he was an artist's model, hence the title of h ...

) for the body spray "''

Impulse Impulse or Impulsive may refer to: Science * Impulse (physics), in mechanics, the change of momentum of an object; the integral of a force with respect to time * Impulse noise (disambiguation) * Specific impulse, the change in momentum per unit ...

''". The song's name is a reference to the 1911

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

poem " The Female of the Species", which has as its

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: "The female of the species is more deadly than the male."

Chart performance

"Female of the Species" debuted at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart on 2 June 1996 and reached its peak of number 14 the following week. On 11 October 2019, the

(BPI) awarded the song a silver

certification Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

for sales and streams of over 200,000 units. It became the band's only entry on any music chart in the United States and Canada, peaking at number 15 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart, number four on the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' Alternative 30 chart, and number 68 on the ''RPM'' 100 Hit Tracks chart. In Australia, "Female of the Species" entered the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

on 11 May 1997, peaking at number 80 in June.

Track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

"Female of the Species" article
{{Authority control 1996 singles 1996 songs Festival Records singles Space (English band) songs UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles