#48: Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl by the Barbarians

City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: August 1965
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #20
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #55
YouTube: “Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl”
Lyrics: “Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl”

The Barbarians were a band from Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The drummer was Victor “Moulty” Moulton, born in Provincetown (MA) in 1945. Jerry Causi was the lead vocalist and had recently left the United States Coast Guard. Guitarist Ron Enos (born 1943) joined in 1964, but left the band before they found their fifteen minutes of fame. He was replaced by Geoffrey “Jeff” Morris in 1965. Guitar player Bruce Benson (born in 1946 in Provincetown) was the third original continuing member of the Barbarians. In the summer of 1964, Bruce Benson had a job at Howard Johnson’s tin Provincetown. Benson recalls, “I helped man the soda fountain, all the 3D burgers and ice cream you could eat.” Victor Moulton worked in the kitchen washing dishes. Benson and Moulton became friends and go to Victor’s Restaurant down Bradford Street from Howard Johnson’s.

Howard Johnson’s at 350 Bradford Street, Provincetown (MA)

The Barbarians were quickly assembled by Victor Moulton in the summer of 1964. He had agreed to do a gig at The Rumpus Room, an ex-jazz club where his cousin worked. After packing the house for their opening performance, the Barbarians were asked to come back numerous times throughout the season. By the end of the summer, record companies had heard about them and they were taken to New York to start their careers.

They got a record deal with Joy Records and in November ’64 released “Hey Little Bird”. The B-side, “You’ve Got To Understand”, charted in Troy (NY) and New York City. The Barbarians made their primary appearance in the landmark 1964 concert film The T.A.M.I. Show, alongside the Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Lesley Gore, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Rolling Stones, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Jan and Dean, the Supremes, and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas at an October 28-29/64 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. T.A.M.I. stood for Teen Age Music International.

The Barbarians appeared later on Shindig!, Hullaballo, the Mike Douglas Show, and the Cleveland variety show Upbeat.

The Barbarians debut album, Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl, featured these liner notes: “One of the most colorful groups ever to appear on the American record scene. Even before their first hit, they were electrifying their public on T.V. and in personal appearances. They play and sing an exciting brand of music. To hear them is to want to swing. We don’t think it is possible to listen to this LP and keep your feet still.”

“Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl” was cowritten by Doug Morris and Geoffrey “Jeff” Morris. Doug Morris was born in 1938 to Jewish parents. He graduated from Columbia University and began working as a songwriter for music publisher Robert Mellin, Inc. In addition to writing several songs for the Barbarians, Morris wrote “Sweet Talking Guy” for The Chiffons, which was a #10 hit in 1966 in the USA and peaked at #4 in the UK in 1972. In 1973, he produced the Brownsville Station hit “Smokin’ In The Boys Room”. In the sixties, he became vice-president and general manager of Laurie Records. He subsequently became the president of Atco Records, and then Atlantic Records. He was named chairman and CEO of MCA Music Entertainment Group in November 1995. In 2010, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl” reflected the social commentary of the period, specifically around what distinguishes a male from a female. The lyrics express both sides’ opposing views on issues like hair length or how a person dresses. A repeated line in the song attests “you look like a girl, with your long blonde hair you look like a girl.” As well, “You’re always wearing skin tight pants and boys wear pants. But in your skin tight pants you look like a girl.” The lyrics also made references to British Invasion bands: “You’re either a girl, or you come from Liverpool”, and “You can dog like a female monkey, but sink like a stone…yeah a rolling stone.”

Importantly, Goldmine magazine noted this about the song: “The lyrics fearlessly mimicked the oft–heard comments of the bourgeoisie, “uptight squares” who pointed their fingers at young rockers, say-ing, “Is it a boy or a girl?,” finally reducing those comments to laughable cliches.” So the accusing question, “Are you a boy or are you a girl?,” is being asked by members of the older establishment to young rockers.

Janesville Daily Gazette, Janesville (WI) July 10, 1964

“Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl” reached #2 in Hamilton (ON), Boston, #3 in Flint (MI), and Fort Worth (TX), #5 in Syracuse (NY), Kitchener (ON), and Buffalo, #6 in Pine Bluff (AR), Montreal, and Saginaw (MI), #7 in Manchester (NH), Miami, and Birmingham (AL), #9 in Burlington (VT), Thunder Bay (ON), and Denver, and #10 in Fargo (ND).

The Barbarians “pirates on the beach” look—leather sandals, open necked/bloused sleeved shirts (sometimes a vest as well), black jeans, longer-than-usual hair—was distinctive, topped by the sight of drummer Moulton’s hook-shaped prosthetic left hand, which he would use to hold his left drumstick during performances. Having lost the hand in an explosion when he was fourteen, “Moulty” Moulton had enabled his drumming by modifying the prosthesis to hold a drumstick. At the height of their popularity, the band was briefly touted as an American counterpart to The Rolling Stones.

The Barbarians followed up with the release of “What The New Breed Say”. However, it only charted in a few record markets in Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania, and stalled at #102 below the Billboard Hot 100. In early 1966, the Barbarians released the single “Moulty” which was a humorous and melodramatic autobiographical song chronicling the drummer’s life and the loss of his hand. In the recording studio were Levon and the Hawks, who later became known as The Band. “Moulty” charted in Hamilton, reached #2 in Syracuse (NY), #3 in Boston, #6 in Manchester (NH), and #8 in Springfield (MA). However, “Moulty” stalled at #90 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the band’s last appearance on the Hot 100.

The Barbarians dissolved in 1967. After the split, Bruce Benson, Jerry Causi, and “Jeff” Morris moved to the west coast and formed the San Francisco rock-funk band Black Pearl. After that Benson went to work with a construction company in Carver (MA), and Jerry Causi found work in Utah working for a trucking company. While Morris remained with the music industry working as a session musician.

Victor Moulton tried to re-form The Barbarians in 1968, but the attempt fizzled. In 1973, he had some success with remounting the band with a new lineup billed as Moulty and the Barbarians. This outfit produced a five-song demo that made its way onto a rock anthology in 2002. The 1980s marked a period of relative quiet for Moulton, as he largely withdrew from active music performance. He began to run a carpet and upholstery cleaning business in Abingdon (MA). By the 1990s, he reemerged with yet another iteration of The Barbarians, featuring his sons Tory and Eric among the members, for sporadic one-off performances in New England nostalgia venues, often billing himself as “Moulty” to capitalize on his earlier fame.

June 27, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
Bruce Benson, “You Too! The Barbarians Are Coming,” Music Museum of New England, April 23, 2024.
“T.A.M.I. Show,” Trailer, American International Pictures, 1964.
The Barbarians, “Hey Little Bird“, T.A.M.I. Show, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, October 28, 1964.
Matt Worf, “The Barbarians: Long-haired Punks,” Goldmine Magazine, June 26, 1992.
Joseph Stromberg, “When the Beatles Arrived in America, Reporters Ignored the Music and Obsessed Over Hair,” Smithsonian Magazine, February 6, 2014.
Sydney J. Harris, “Beatles Appear Bisexual And Make $100 Million,” Strictly Personal, Janesville Daily Gazette, Janesville (WI), July 10, 1964.

Fabulous 40 – CKOC 1150-AM Hamilton (ON) | October 22,1965