‘Let's Dance’ is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie, originally included as the title track of his 1983 album of the same name. Co-produced by Nile Rodgers of Chic, it was recorded in late 1982 at the Power Station in New York City. With the assistance of engineer Bob Clearmountain, Rodgers transformed the song from its Folk rock origins to a dance number through studio effects and new musicians Bowie had yet to work with. Bowie hired then-unknown Texas guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who added a blues-edge.
In 1982, David Bowie left his longtime label RCA Records, having grown increasingly unsatisfied with them, and signed a new contract with EMI for a reported $17 million. With a new label and an idea for a commercial sound, he wanted to start fresh with a new producer. Around autumn, Bowie met Nile Rodgers of the American band Chic in the after-hours New York nightclub Continental, where the two developed a rapport over industry acquaintances and shared musical interests; he eventually asked him to produce his next record. In late 1982, the duo regrouped at Bowie's home in Montreux, Switzerland. Bowie, using a 12-string acoustic guitar that had only six strings, played for him a folk-like number he believed could be a hit with the right arrangement, tentatively calling it ‘Let's Dance’.
Embracing rock, funk, dance, new wave and post-disco, the full-length seven-minute track features numerous solos, including trumpet, saxophone, guitar and percussion. Several music elements, from the bassline and the breakdown, were based on Rodgers' work with Chic, while the rising vocal intros were taken from the Beatles' version of ‘Twist and Shout’. The lyrics describe a couple dancing under the moonlight and possess a sense of peril and ominousness. Rodgers later commented: "The song was going to be a major hit. And we knew it."
Released as the album's lead single in full-length and edited formats, ‘Let's Dance’ became the biggest single of Bowie's career and a massive international hit. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number five, securing the top spot from Duran Duran's ‘Is There Something I Should Know?’ two weeks later and remained there for three weeks, enjoying a 14-week chart stay; the song would become his final UK number-one. It is one of the 300 best-selling UK singles of all time. It also reached the number one position on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Dance/Disco charts, and number one in Canada, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway, and number two in Australia, Austria, and Germany. Becoming the biggest selling single of Bowie's career up to that point, aside from the often-reissued ‘Space Oddity’ (1969), ‘Let's Dance’ relaunched Bowie as a worldwide superstar of the 1980s after years of dwindling commercial fortunes in the late-1970s, and changed the course of his career.
The music video for ‘Let's Dance’ was shot in February 1983 in Australia, together with ‘China Girl’, after Bowie officially signed with EMI. Co-directed by Bowie and frequent video collaborator David Mallet, the video starred Terry Roberts and Joelene King, two students from Sydney's Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre. Shooting locations included Sydney, the Warrumbungle National Park, a sheep-farming outpost in Carinda and a Carindan hotel bar. Bowie made appearances in the bar and in the middle of a field playing guitar.
The video provides commentary on the treatment of Aboriginal Australians, particularly scenes depicting the boy being forced to drag machinery down a busy road and the girl being forced to clean the tarmac with water and a brush. At the time, Bowie said: "As much as I love this country, it's probably one of the most racially intolerant in the world, ... There's a lot of injustice, so let's, you know, say something about it."
Label – EMI America
Songwriter – David Bowie
Producers – David Bowie, Nile Rodgers
SONG LYRICS
[Intro]Ah, ah, ah, ah
[Refrain]
(Let's dance)
(Let's dance)
[Verse 1]
(Let's dance) put on your red shoes and dance the blues
(Let's dance) to the song they're playing on the radio
(Let's sway) while colour lights up your face
(Let's sway) sway through the crowd to an empty space
[Chorus]
If you say run, I'll run with you
And if you say hide, we'll hide
Because my love for you would break my heart in two
If you should fall, into my arms and tremble like a flower
[Refrain]
(Let's dance)
(Let's dance)
[Verse 2]
(Let's dance) for fear your grace should fall
(Let's dance) for fear tonight is all
(Let's sway) you could look into my eyes
(Let's sway) under the moonlight, this serious moonlight
[Chorus]
And if you say run, I'll run with you
And if you say hide, we'll hide
Because my love for you would break my heart in two
If you should fall, into my arms and tremble like a flower
[Refrain]
(Let's dance)
(Let's dance)
[Verse 3]
(Let's dance) put on your red shoes and dance the blues
(Let's dance) to the song we're playing
(Let's sway)
(Let's sway) under the moonlight, this serious moonlight
[Guitar solo]
[Outro]
(Let's dance)
(Let's...)
(Let's...)
(Let's...)
(Let's sway)
(Let's...)
Let's dance, let's dance, let's dance, let's dance, let's dance
(Let's dance)
Let's sway
Let's sway
Let's dance, let's dance, let's dance, let's dance, let's dance
(Let's dance)
(Let's dance)
(Let's dance)
(Let's dance)