Young Folks

The song first attracted notice on websites such as Myspace and YouTube, and was used in a number of European commercials and television shows. Since mid-2007, the song has earned extensive airplay on American radio, most notably on dance radio outlets like KNHC/Seattle, KNGY/San Francisco and Sirius Satellite's The Beat. It is notable for being a popular song with whistling (the whistling was originally added in as a placeholder for another instrument). The whistling and part of the song have a tune reminiscent of the "oriental riff".

The song was ranked No. 5 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Tracks of 2006 list.[3] Pitchfork reviewed the song on 19 July 2006, giving it three out of five stars.[4] The song was also voted No. 2 in the 2006 NME Track of the Year poll.[5] Planet Sound named this their No. 2 single of 2006. The song was named the No. 1 song of 2007 according to the iTunes Store. Y-Rock On XPN also named the song No. 1 of 2007. In October 2011, NME placed it at No. 92 on its list 150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years.[6] It was included in Spinner's 10 Best Whistling Parts in Songs.[7] Rolling Stone put the song also on its list of the 15 Best Whistling Songs of All Time.[8]

The single was re-released on 17 September 2007, when it reached No. 13 in the United Kingdom, beating the original chart position of No. 33 in 2006.

The video was directed by Ted Malmros with animation by Graham Samuels. It is featured in the video game SingStar Pop 2, as well as in Lips.

The video starts off with Peter and Victoria sitting in a park, on a bench. Peter teaches Victoria how to whistle. Then the video switches over to them both sitting in a bus where the song starts. Throughout the video, scenes of the band playing the song can be seen and eventually the video ends with a big party where everybody "seems to disappear".

The group performed the song on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on 29 January 2007, and on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on 18 May 2007 (the latter with Tonight Show band member Vicki Randle on bongos). On 29 September 2007, the band played "Young Folks", with Victoria Bergsman's vocals, on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on BBC1. When the band performed the song at the 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Bergsman's vocals were performed by Bebban Stenborg of Shout Out Louds. On Peter Bjorn and John's 2008 Australian tour, Victoria Bergsman's vocals were performed by Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura.

Vinyl release

1. "Young Folks" (featuring Victoria Bergsman)
2. "Ancient Curse"

CD release

1. "Young Folks" (featuring Victoria Bergsman)
2. "Ancient Curse"
3. "All Those Expectations"
4. "Young Folks (Scumfrogs Remix)" (featuring Victoria Bergsman)

"Young Folks" is considered to be one of the most popular songs associated with hipster culture. It has made numerous appearances in media and has also spawned many covers and samples from artists.

• English indie rock band The Kooks made a cover of "Young Folks" which is included in a CD album in a special box set issue of the music magazine, NME. This version was featured in Gossip Girl's 100th episode.[27][28]
• German singer Nena covered "Young Folks" together with Oliver Pocher and Stephan Remmler in German as "Ich kann nix dafür" (German for "I'm not responsible for it.") for the movie Vollidiot. This version was the 78th best-selling single of 2007 in Germany.[29]
• Japanese singer Shugo Tokumaru covered the song in 2006. It was released as a single in Japan and received considerable airplay.
• Kanye West sampled this song for a track by the same name and "Interviews (Interlude)" on his mixtape Can't Tell Me Nothing. He was joined by the original artists of it when performing his version live in 2007.[30]
• James Blunt covered this song in September 2007 on BBC Radio 1's The Jo Whiley Show[31] and later that month at KLLC's Now & Zen Fest.[32]
• In 2011, American band The Holdup made a half cover of the song, renaming it "Young Fools".
• Other covering artists include Dawn Landes, Pete Yorn, and Richard & Judy.
• The song is featured on the 2007 compilation album Acoustic 07.
• In 2008 the song was used in a commercial for Serbian mobile operator Vip mobile.
• Gossip Girl used the track for its pilot in the first scene of the series.[33]
• The song was also featured in the 2008 motion picture 21.[34]
• From March 2009 the song is used in adverts for the UK DIY Retailer Homebase.
• The song also appeared during Will's video project on the 2009 film Bandslam.
• The song appeared in Finnish movie Kielletty hedelmä (Forbidden Fruit) (2009).
• It was also used for the season two promo of Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry?.[35]
• The song also features in the soundtrack of Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.
• It also appeared on the TV series How I Met Your Mother, during the fourteenth episode of the second season, "Monday Night Football".
• In 2006, the song appeared on the TV series Grey's Anatomy, in the sixth episode of the third season, "Let the Angels Commit".
• In 2012, the song was used in an Indonesian television advertisement for Mizone, a type of isotonic drink.
• The song is in the soundtrack of the video games FIFA 08 and MLB 2K13.
• The song is used in an aircraft safety video for Air New Zealand.
• The song is played in a Google Home Mini TV commercial for 2017.
• The song was used in the Soundtrack of the Brazilian Soap Opera ''A Favorita'' (2008 -2009)
• The song appeared in the 2017 reboot of Dynasty, in the twentieth episode of the season one titled "A Line from the Past".

• Whistling#In music

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics