“Careless Whisper” is a pop ballad written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley of Wham!. It was released on 24 July 1984 on the Wham! album Make It Big. The song features a prominent saxophone riff, and has been covered by a number of artists since its first release. It was released as a single and became a huge commercial success around the world. It reached number one in nearly 25 countries, selling about 6 million copies worldwide—2 million of them in the United States.
Unlike most of the other Wham! singles, the song was co-written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. The two wrote it together as developing artists three years earlier in Watford, England. Michael and Ridgeley wrote the song when they were 17, taking inspiration from stories from Michael’s early romantic overtures.[5] Michael explained in his autobiography, Bare, that much of the song’s content is based on events from his childhood. Michael wrote in his biography, “With ‘Careless Whisper’ I remember exactly where it first came to me, where I came up with the sax line… I remember I was handing the money over to the guy on the bus and I got this line, the sax line…”
“When I was twelve, thirteen, I used to have to chaperone my sister, who was two years older, to an ice rink at Queensway in London,” he detailed. “There was a girl there with long blond hair whose name was Jane. I was a fat boy in glasses and I had a big crush on her – though I didn’t stand a chance. My sister used to go and do what she wanted when we got to the skating rink and I would spend the afternoon swooning over this girl Jane.”
“A few years later, when I was sixteen, I had my first relationship with a girl called Helen”, Michael continued. “It had just started to cool off a bit when I discovered that the blonde girl from Queensway had moved in just around the corner from my school. She had moved in right next to where I used to stand and wait for my next-door neighbor, who used to give me a lift home from school.
And one day I saw her walk down the path next to me and I thought – now where did SHE come from? She didn’t know it was me. It was a few years later and I looked a lot different. Then we played a school disco with The Executive and she saw me singing and decided she fancied me. By this time she was that much older and a big buxom thing – and eventually I started seeing her. She invited me in one day when I was waiting for my lift and I was… in heaven.
Careless Whisper (1984)
I feel so unsure
As I take your hand
And lead you to the dance floor
As the music dies
Something in your eyes
Calls to mind a silver screen
And all its sad goodbyes
I’m never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it’s easy to pretend
I know you’re not a fool
I should’ve known better than to cheat a friend
And waste the chance that I’ve been given
So I’m never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you
Time can never mend
The careless whispers of a good friend
To the heart and mind
Ignorance is kind
There’s no comfort in the truth
Pain is all you’ll find
I’m never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it’s easy to pretend
I know you’re not a fool
I should’ve known better than to cheat a friend
And waste the chance that I’ve been given
So I’m never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you
Tonight the music seems so loud
I wish that we could lose this crowd
Maybe it’s better this way
We’d hurt each other with the things we want to say
We could have been so good together
We could have lived this dance forever
But now who’s gonna dance with me
Please stay
I’m never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it’s easy to pretend
I know you’re not a fool
I should’ve known better than to cheat a friend
And waste the chance that I’ve been given
So I’m never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you
Now that you’re gone
Now that you’re gone
Now that you’re gone
Was what I did so wrong
So wrong that you had to leave me alone?
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