Let's Dance (David Bowie song)

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"Let's Dance"
"Let's Dance" cover
Single by David Bowie
from the album Let's Dance
Released March 17, 1983
Format 7"/12” single
Recorded Power Station, New York, December 1982
Genre Rock/Pop/Dance
Length 4:07
Label EMI
EA152
Writer(s) David Bowie
Producer(s) Nile Rodgers
Chart positions
David Bowie singles chronology
"Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy"
(1982)		 "Let's Dance"
(1983)		 "China Girl"
(1983)

"Let’s Dance" is the title album track on David Bowie's album Let's Dance. It was also released as the first single from that album in 1983, and went on to become one of his biggest-selling tracks.

Heavily influenced by producer Nile Rodgers’ work with his band CHIC, “Let’s Dance" features a thumping bassline, combined with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s guitar playing, “Let’s Dance” was arguably Bowie’s most commercial record up to that point. While the lyrics are ostensibly just those of a dance song, there is some discord struck by lines such as “Let’s dance, for fear tonight is all”. The 7:38 album version was heavily edited for single release, though the 12” single retained the full length.

This loneliness and desperation seeps into the music video, made with David Mallet on location in Australia including Sydney Harbour, which features Bowie watching an Aboriginal couple’s struggles against metaphors of Western cultural imperialism impassively while playing with his band.

The single was Bowie’s fastest selling to date, entering the UK singles chart at number five on its first week of release, and deposing Duran Duran’s “Is There Something I Should Know?” the following week, staying at the top of the charts for another fortnight. Soon afterwards, the single would top the Billboard Hot 100, Bowie’s first single to reach number one on both sides of the Atlantic. It narrowly missed topping the Australian charts, peaking at number two. Australian radio station Triple M plays “Lets Dance” in rotation due to the stations change of music style and policy.

“Let’s Dance” would turn Bowie’s public profile from “weird art rocker” to “global megastar” almost overnight. The track was a regular on the Serious Moonlight Tour (the name derived from a lyric in “Let’s Dance”), the 1987 Glass Spider Tour and the 1990 Sound + Vision Tour, and was then reworked for the 2000 tour.

P.Diddy used a sample of this song for his 'Been Around The World' in 1997.

Contents

[edit] Pop culture references

[edit] Track listing

[edit] 7": EMI America / EA 152 (UK)

  1. "Let's Dance [Single Version]" (Bowie) – 4:07
  2. "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" (Bowie, Moroder) – 5:09

[edit] 12": EMI America / 12EA 152 (UK)

  1. "Let's Dance" (Bowie) – 7:38
  2. "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" (Bowie, Moroder) – 5:09

[edit] Production credits

[edit] Other releases

[edit] Cover versions

  • Second Skin - Goth Oddity 2000: A Tribute to David Bowie (2000)
  • CHIC - CHIC Freak and More Treats
  • Dokkumer Lokaatsje
  • Angéle Dubeau
  • E-Male - Single
  • The Heroes - Access All Areas (1999)
  • Kex - 12-inch single (1983)
  • Overdose - Ashes to Ashes: A Tribute to David Bowie (1998)
  • La Pieta - Let's Dance (1999)
  • The Rockridge Synthesiser Orchestra - Plays David Bowie Classic Trax
  • Tina Turner - Tina Live in Europe (duet with David Bowie) (1988)
  • M. Ward - Transfiguration of Vincent (2003)
  • The Futureheads

[edit] References

Pegg, Nicholas, The Complete David Bowie, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-14-5

Preceded by
"Beat It" by Michael Jackson		 Billboard Hot 100 number one single
May 21, 1983		 Succeeded by
"Flashdance... What a Feeling" by Irene Cara
Preceded by
"Is There Something I Should Know" by Duran Duran		 UK number one single
April 3, 1983		 Succeeded by
"True" by Spandau Ballet
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