"Denis" a.k.a. "Denee Denee" is a song by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 New Wave

New Wave music

New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 band Blondie

Blondie (band)

Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...

. It featured on the band's second studio album, Plastic Letters

Plastic Letters

Plastic Letters is the second studio album by American New Wave band Blondie, released in February 1978 on Chrysalis Records. It was the second and final Blondie album to be produced by Richard Gottehrer...

(1978), and was the second UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 single release by Blondie on Chrysalis

Chrysalis Records

Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...

 records.

Song information

A gender-swapping cover of the 1963 hit "Denise" by Randy & the Rainbows

Randy & the Rainbows

Randy & the Rainbows are an American doo wop group from Maspeth, New York.-Career:The group was formed in 1962 in a neighborhood of Queens, and featured two pairs of siblings, along with a fifth member. The Safuto brothers had previously sung in the group The Dialtones. They recorded with the...

, the song helped the band break into the international market. The original version of the song contained a verse with partly improvised lyrics in French by vocalist Debbie Harry

Debbie Harry

Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers...

. Although Chrysalis insisted that the band re-record the song with a grammatically correct French translation, both the band and producer Richard Gottehrer preferred the first take. Harry stood her ground on the matter, and the version containing the "pidgin French" lyrics was released. The second, re-recorded version had its debut as a bonus track on EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

 UK's 1994 re-issue of Plastic Letters.

"Denis" was released in February 1978 and reached number two in the UK and Australia and broke into the top twenty in most European countries. In the UK, the song was kept off of the top spot by Kate Bush

Kate Bush

Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...

's "Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights (song)

"Wuthering Heights" is a song by Kate Bush released as her debut single in January 1978. It became a No.1 hit in the UK singles chart and remains her biggest-selling single. The song appears on her 1978 debut album, The Kick Inside. The B-side of the single was another song by Bush named "Kite" -...

". Just like "Rip Her to Shreds

Rip Her to Shreds

"Rip Her to Shreds" is a song by American New Wave band Blondie, which features on the band's self-titled debut album . It is rumored to be about punk rock singer Cherry Vanilla.- Single information :...

", the single was issued on both 7" and 12" formats in the UK, and both feature two B-sides, "Contact in Red Square" from Plastic Letters and "Kung-Fu Girls" from Blondie

Blondie (album)

Blondie is the eponymous debut album by American New Wave band Blondie, released in 1976 on Private Stock Records. The first single "X Offender" was originally entitled "Sex Offender" but since radio stations would not play a song with such a controversial title, the band renamed the song...

. "Denis" was the only single released in the US from Plastic Letters—with "I'm on E" as the B-side—but never charted. In 1988, a remixed version of the track was issued as the lead single for Blondie/Debbie Harry remix compilation Once More into the Bleach

Once More into the Bleach

Once More into the Bleach is a remix album released in 1988 by the band Blondie and Debbie Harry. The thirteen-track compilation contains remixes of Blondie songs and material from Debbie Harry's solo career. It was issued as a double vinyl album, double cassette, and compact disc...

.

Track listing

UK 7" and 12" (CHS 2204)

1. "Denis" (Levenson) – 2:18
2. "Contact in Red Square" (Destri) – 2:01
3. "Kung-Fu Girls" (Destri, Harry, Valentine) – 2:33

US 7" (CHS 2220)

1. "Denis" (Levenson) – 2:18
2. "I'm on E" (Harry, Stein) – 2:13

Denis '88 US 7"

1. "Denis '88"
2. "Rapture" (The Teddy Riley Remix)

Denis '88 US CD

1. "Denis '88"
2. "Rapture (The Teddy Riley Remix)
3. "Heart Of Glass"
4. "Atomic"

Chart (1978)	Peak position
Netherlands	1
UK	2
Germany	6
Austria	10
Australia	12
Sweden	19
New Zealand	30