"Poor Boy" was a song written by

Tim Finn Brian Timothy Finn (born 25 June 1952) is a New Zealand singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He is best known as a founding member of Split Enz. Finn founded the band in 1972 with Phil Judd and served as lead singer and principal songw ...

and recorded by

Split Enz Split Enz were a New Zealand band formed in 1972. Regarded as the first New Zealand band to gain significant recognition outside of Australasia, they were initially noted for their progressive rock, progressive/art rock sound, flamboyant visua ...

for their 1980 '' True Colours'' album. It was released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in the UK only.

The song

The lyrics concerned a young man who had fallen in love with a girl on another planet, who he had only discovered existed when tuning his radio, and his regret that they will never meet face to face. The song made use of an

ethereal Ethereal may refer to: * Ethereal (horse), a horse that won Australia's Caulfield Cup as well as Melbourne Cup in 2001 * Ethereal (musician), American rapper and record producer * Ethereal wave, or simply ethereal, a subgenre of dark wave music * W ...

keyboard solo by

Eddie Rayner Anthony Edward Charles Rayner (born 19 November 1952) is a New Zealand musician who spent ten years as a keyboardist in the band Split Enz. He has also played in the groups Orb, Space Waltz, Crowded House, the Makers, The Angels in 1986-1987 ...

In popular culture

In 2009 a

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre com ...

production of the same name redeveloped the song's themes, with the other-worldly character presented as the ghost of a car accident.

Track listing

''Released in the United Kingdom only.'' #"Poor Boy" 3:28 #"Missing Person (Live)" 3:39

Personnel

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

Neil Finn Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for being a principal member of Split Enz and for being the lead singer of Crowded House. He was also a member of Fleetwood Mac from 2018 ...

- vocals,

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Noel Crombie Geoffrey Noel Crombie (born 17 April 1953) is a New Zealand percussionist and former member of the band Split Enz. He fulfilled multiple roles including costume and hair designer, singer, album cover designer, and music video director. Prior ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

* Malcolm Green -

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Nigel Griggs Nigel Griggs (born 18 August 1949) is an English musician. He is perhaps best known for having played bass guitar in the band Split Enz. He is the brother of Paul Griggs from the 1970s vocal group Guys 'n' Dolls. Biography A professional m ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

- vocals, keyboards

ENZSO version

"Poor Boy" is a song by

Enzso ENZSO was an orchestral project started by former Split Enz keyboardist Eddie Rayner. It combines the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra with contemporary pop singers to perform Split Enz songs. History The project began with Eddie Rayner. He wa ...

, released as the first single from their album ''

''. With the B-sides "I See Red", which is available on the album, and "Albert of India".

Track listing

#"Poor Boy" -

Dave Dobbyn Sir David Joseph Dobbyn (born 3 January 1957) is a New Zealand musician, singer–songwriter and record producer. In his early career he was a member of the rock group Th' Dudes and was the main creative force in pop band DD Smash. Since then h ...

#"I See Red" -

#"Albert of India" -

References

{{Split Enz Split Enz songs 1980 singles Songs written by Tim Finn 1995 singles Enzso songs 1980 songs Mushroom Records singles