| "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Jermaine Stewart | ||||||||||
| from the album Frantic Romantic | ||||||||||
| B-side | Brilliance | |||||||||
| Released | 1986 | |||||||||
| Format | 7" single, 12" single | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1985 | |||||||||
| Genre | R&B/soul/funk | |||||||||
| Length | 4:54 (album version) 4:38/4:04 (edited single versions) |
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| Label | Arista, Virgin Records, 10 Records | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Narada Michael Walden, Preston Glass | |||||||||
| Producer | Narada Michael Walden | |||||||||
| Jermaine Stewart singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" is pop vocalist Jermaine Stewart's first of three singles from 1986. The song was included on Stewart's second album "Frantic Romantic". "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" remains Stewart's biggest commercial success in both America and Europe.
The song acquired a great deal of success after being used on hit 1980s television show Miami Vice, and reached number 2 on the UK and Canadian chart, as well as going to number 5 in the U.S. This was Stewart's biggest hit in these countries.
The single seemed to reflect more modesty when it came to sex in light of the AIDS pandemic at the time. Jermaine Stewart died of AIDS-related liver cancer at the age of 39. In 1988, Stewart was interviewed by Donnie Simpson where Stewart spoke of the lyrical message within the song. "I think it made a lot of peoples' minds open up a little bit. We didn't only want to just talk about clothes, we wanted to extend that. We wanted to use the song as a theme to be able to say you don't have to do all the negative things that society forces on you. You don't have to drink and drive. You don't have to take drugs early. The girls don't have to get pregnant early. So the clothes bit of it was to get people's attention, which it did and I'm glad it was a positive message."[1]
The previous single "I Like It" failed to make much impact as a follow up to Stewart's debut single "The Word Is Out". "I Like It" failed to chart in either the UK or America.
A popular promotional video was created for the single as well as numerous TV performances to promote the single.
"We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" was written by Narada Michael Walden and Preston Glass. Walden is a well-known American producer, drummer, singer, and songwriter.
The b-side for the European single "Brilliance" appeared on Stewart's 1984 debut album "The Word Is Out" as the final track. "Brilliance" was written by Stewart and Julian Lindsay.[2] Lindsay had previously performed piano on the 1983 Culture Club album "Colour by Numbers". The American b-side was "Give Your Love to Me" which was used as the closing track on the album "Frantic Romantic". It was written by Jakko J. and Jermaine Stewart.
For the single, various remixes of "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" were released. These remixes were created by Lewis A. Martineé. A special UK/Australian 12" single was released titled "We Don't Have To..." which featured different artwork.
The song appeared in Kevin Smith's film Zack and Miri Make a Porno as well as the episode "My Dirty Secret" of the television show Scrubs.
In 2011 the song was used in a Cadbury advert in the UK called The Charity Shop.[3] This exposed the song to a new generation who downloaded the track and returned it to the UK Top 40 so far reaching No.29.
The song has been covered a number of times and versions have been released by Clea and Lil' Chris, while it also provided the hook for Gym Class Heroes' fifth single "Clothes Off!!" and was sampled by rapper Mase on his album Welcome Back.
Contents |
| Chart (1986) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Singles Chart[4] | 2 |
| Dutch Singles Chart[5] | 13 |
| French Singles Chart[6] | 91 |
| Irish Singles Chart[7] | 4 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart[8] | 27 |
| UK Singles Chart[9] | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[10] | 5 |
| U.S. Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart[11] | 64 |
| U.S. Billboard Dance/Club Play Songs Chart[12] | 41 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales Chart[13] | 35 |
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Irish Singles Chart[14] | 30 |
| UK Singles Chart[15] | 29 |
| UK R&B Singles Chart[16] | 7 |
| "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Clea vs. Da Playaz | ||||
| from the album Trinity | ||||
| Released | September 2005 (UK) 2006 (Europe) |
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| Format | CD single | |||
| Genre | Dance pop, disco | |||
| Label | Upside Records | |||
| Clea vs. Da Playaz singles chronology | ||||
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The song was covered by Clea and was released as their third single. It was released in the UK in September 2005 and giving them their third Top 40 hit, charting at #35. The song appears on their UK debut album, Trinity.
| Chart (2005) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | 35 |
| "We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Lil' Chris | ||||
| from the album What's It All About | ||||
| Released | October 2007 (UK) | |||
| Format | CD single | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Lil' Chris singles chronology | ||||
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Pop singer Lil' Chris covered the song and released it as the only single from his second album, What's It All About?, on 19 October 2007. It peaked at #63 on the UK Singles Chart.
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | 63 |
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