One of the most listened to songs of the 1980s, with worldwide popularity and topping the charts at #1 in 25 countries….”Careless Whisper” is one of the greatest songs of all time.
This was the first hit song for George Michaels career, and also his first single (even though he was not the only writer, we’ll cover who helped as well) turned out the song was actually based on some girls he was two timing in high school.
The Full Story behind “Careless Whisper” and Meaning.
So, what is “Careless whisper about? It all starts with a story from George Michaels early years…..
“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. 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. 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 neighbour, 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 (George Michaels first band) 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.”
And the girl who didn’t even see me when I was twelve invited me in. So I went out with her for a couple of months but I didn’t stop seeing Helen. I thought I was being smart – I had gone from being a total loser to being a two-timer.
And I remember my sisters used to give me a hard time because they found out and they really liked the first girl. The whole idea of ‘Careless Whisper’ was the first girl finding out about the second – which she never did.
But I started another relationship with a girl called Alexis without finishing the one with Jane. It all got a bit complicated. Jane found out about her and got rid of me… The whole time I thought I was being cool, being this two-timer, but there really wasn’t that much emotion involved. I did feel guilty about the first girl – and I have seen her since – and the idea of the song was about her.
“Careless Whisper” was us dancing, because we danced a lot, and the idea was……..we are dancing…but she knows…and it’s finished.”
People make a lot of mistakes when they’re young, and it sounds like George Michael regretted this one quite a bit to have written this song about it. In fact, recording this song was not very easy and he had to do quite a bit of work in order to get this song right.
The Song went through two recordings and eleven (Seriously) Saxophone Players Before Being Released.
And That’s Not All…..
The hit song was actually a struggle to put out, from start to finish. The Journey actually started on a bus ride on the way to Dj at an event. He describes the situation as being slightly romantic even, the song just kind of came to him. He even remembers exactly where he was sitting on the bus.
“With ‘Careless Whisper’ I remember EXACTLY where it first came to me, where I came up with the sax line. I can remember very vaguely where I was when I wrote things after Wham! got off the ground, but with ‘Careless Whisper’ I remember exactly the time and place.
I know it sounds really weird and a kind of romantic thing to say, but I remember exactly where it happened, where I was sitting on the bus, how I continued and everything. I remember I was handing the money over to the guy on the bus and I got this line, the sax line: der-der-der-der, der-der-der-der.”
From there, George describes how it took months for him to finish the song in his head before he even started actually recording anything (He describes this in his biography “Bare” Check it out on Amazon here). After all that, he was hoping recording would be a breeze but it turned into more of an ordeal than most of his recordings.
It really should’ve been, George went to Jerry Wexler to record this song. If you don’t know who this is, Jerry is basically the force behind the behemoth Atlantic Records, this guy was such a huge influence in music he literally made up the term “Rhythm and Blues”. Among some of his great accomplishments was turning Aretha Franklins career around.
Anyways, needless to say recording with Jerry meant you were about to do something great.
The thing is, the version produced with Wexler isn’t the one you hear today.
Here’s the version (the first version) that was produced with Wexler.
The version you hear today was actually a second version George recorded himself. Whatever happened in the studio with Wexler, just simply didn’t work out. He even hired a top professional to play the Saxophone for the event and he simply could not play the part.
Simon Napier Bell who managed Wham! described what happened with the Saxophonist. “He arrived at eleven and should have been gone by twelve. Instead, after two hours, he was still there while everyone in the studio shuddered with embarrassment. He just couldn’t play the opening riff the way George wanted it, the way it had been on the demo. But that had been made two years earlier by a friend of George’s who lived round the corner and played sax for fun in the pub.”
Even though I’m sure the Saxophonist was probably pretty embarrassed by the situation, turns out he really shouldn’t have been.
It took Eleven different Saxophonist to get the job done, honestly I’m surprised that George went that far even. I personally would’ve gotten in contact with the original person who played the part.
Also, out of those Saxophonist…..technically still none of those even got it exactly right. The studio slowed the sax part down and the Saxophonist played in a higher key so it would be turned down a semitone. This creates an odd effect that some would say sounds slightly digital. It is odd that it was the sound that George was looking for. I kind of wonder how the song is played live if there’s a way they recreate that sound onstage.
After all these issues the song became a smash hit around the world……George was actually depressed however about it’s popularity.
The song was popular across the world, was in major films and even hit the #1 spot in 25 different countries. Very few people get even slightly close to this success. George Michael didn’t seem to like what had happened “It disappoints me that you can write a lyric very flippantly—and not a particularly good lyric—and it can mean so much to so many people.”
George has also talked about how odd it was that a song written by such a young guy who didn’t understand love (He was 17 when he wrote the song) could impact so many people.