Pop Song 150 'Is she really going out with him?' Joe Jackson 1978

Pop Song 150 Is she really going out with him?' Joe Jackson 1978

Written as a humorous commentary on women dating unattractive men, the song contains a prominent bass line and a chorus praised by critics as memorable. Jackson has since stated that the song's reputation for being angry was untrue.

According to Jackson, the song originated from when he heard the title. Jackson claimed that he had first heard it on a song by the Damned, who had gotten it from the Shangri-Las' song, "Leader of the Pack". From there, he came up with the basis for lyrics for "a funny little song about watching couples and wondering what the girls could possibly see in the guys". Jackson recalled, "It wasn't based on a specific incident or anything like that ... I tried to write a funny song around that title, and that’s about all there was to it, really". Though the song was written to be comical, it has been interpreted by some critics as angry, earning Jackson the tag of "angry young man". He said of the song's origins in an interview:

I heard that phrase somewhere and I thought that could be a kind of funny song about gorgeous girls going out with monsters. It just started from there. It was just a funny song, or supposed to be funny. It was a great surprise to me when some people interpreted it as being angry.

— Joe Jackson, Songfacts, 2012
In another interview, Jackson recalled another incident where the lyrics to the song were misinterpreted. He explained that he was accused of racism by a black man because of the song's opening lyric "Pretty women out walking with gorillas down my street", which the man had thought was about black men dating white women. Jackson concluded, "And no matter what I said he wouldn't believe me, and as far as he was concerned that was what it was. So, I mean, really, what can you do? (Laughs) I always feel like my lyrics are very clear, but what can I say?"