"Homely Girl" is a song by American vocal group

the Chi-Lites The Chi-Lites (, ) are an American R&B/soul vocal quartet from Chicago. Forming at Chicago's Hyde Park High School in 1959, the group's original lineup consisted of singers Robert Lester, Eugene Record, Creadel Jones, Clarence Johnson, Burt ...

. Released in 1973, it reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, number three on the US

Hot Soul Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 po ...

chart, and number 54 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. A cover by

UB40 UB40 are an English reggae band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy ...

also became a hit between 1989 and 1991 in several countries.

Charts

UB40 version

A cover version by

, from their ninth studio album, ''

Labour of Love II ''Labour of Love II'' is the ninth album and second covers album by UB40, released in 1989. The album contained two top-ten ''Billboard'' Hot 100 hits – "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" peaked at No. 7, " The Way You Do the Things You Do" peak ...

'' (1989), was released as a single on November 6, 1989, in the United Kingdom. This cover reached the top 10 in the UK, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. In France, the song was used in a television advertisement for the Lee Cooper

jeans Jeans are a type of trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with the addition of copper pocket rivets added by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and patented by ...

. David Giles of ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' deemed "Homely Girl" as "UB40's best for a while", adding: "It's a mark of a truly great band to be able to perform a cover version so convincingly that you end up thinking they've written it themselves".

Track listings

7-inch single # "Homely Girl" – 3:22 # "Gator" (instrumental) – 4:01 12-inch single # "Homely Girl" (extended mix) – 7:29 # "Gator" (instrumental) – 4:01 # "Homely Girl" – 3:22 CD single # "Homely Girl" – 3:22 # "Gator" (instrumental) – 4:01 # "Homely Girl" (extended mix) – 7:29

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Other versions

In 1974,

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first Black American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the Baseball color line, ...

, lead singer of The Pioneers, released a cover version in the UK on

Trojan Records Trojan Records is a British record label founded by Jamaican Duke Reid, Lee Gopthal and Chris Blackwell in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. Th ...

' subsidiary label Harry J (catalogue number HJ6674). It was this reggae version that inspired UB40, whose "Labour of Love" albums are cover versions of reggae tracks of the 1960s and 1970s.

References

{{Authority control 1973 songs 1989 singles 1991 singles Brunswick Records singles The Chi-Lites songs Songs written by Eugene Record UB40 songs Virgin Records singles