Cee Lo Green’s saucy summer hit, “Fuck You,” got a second life last fall thanks to Gwyneth Paltrow’s guest shot on Glee, (“Forget You”), and now in 2011, the song is on its third go-round courtesy of a college student’s inspired performance for her sign-language class final. Since we’re still stuck on “Fuck You,” hopes for Green’s follow-up single from The Lady Killer, “Bright Lights Bigger City,” have temporarily been dimmed.

Once we’re ready to move on from our collective fixation on “Fuck You,” Green’s Saturday night groove is worth checking out, a funky brother from another mother. “Bright Lights Bigger City” nabs the synth stabs from “Billie Jean” (unofficially) as if played by same-period Van Halen (or today’s Goldfrapp), while the descending strings bring in a bit of James Bond, adding mystery to Green’s Manhattan project.

The music video for “Bright Lights Bigger City” isn’t as creative as the one(s) done for “Fuck You,” but the new tune doesn’t tell such a straightforward story or have the humor of its predecessor. So we see Green riding around New York City at night, checking the lights out, and encountering at least one young lady who seems to have been preserved from a Robert Palmer video. Whatever budget there was for the “Bright Lights Bigger City” clip must have been paid for by several liquor brands, each of which gets one or more shots in return:

Any public embrace of “Bright Lights Bigger City” will certainly be put off yet again, since this week’s Saturday Night Live features Gwyneth Paltrow as host and Cee Lo Green as musical guest. As you might expect, the two are indeed prepping a duet, a matchup that will certainly make the rounds of the Interweb in the days that follow.

Purchase Cee Lo Green – “Bright Lights Bigger City” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.