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" Careless Whisper" is a song recorded by English singer-songwriter George Michael. Released as the second single from Wham!'s second studio album Make It Big (1984), it was written by Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, with Michael producing the song. Although the song was released as part of Make It Big, the single release is credited to either Wham! featuring George Michael (in the United States and several other countries) or solely to George Michael (in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and some nations in Europe).
The song has been covered by several artists since its release, including Brian McKnight, Seether, Roger Williams, Kenny G and Julio Iglesias, among others. A contemporary pop song with R&B and soul influences, it features a prominent saxophone riff composed by Michael and played by Steve Gregory. It became a commercial success, topping record charts in at least ten countries and selling about 6 million copies worldwide—2 million of them in the United States. The song later achieved popularity on social media, mainly due to the saxophone riff being used in many movies and as a popular internet meme. With sales of over 11 million copies worldwide, it is one of the best selling songs of all time.
Michael explained that the lyrics were inspired by his own experience Infidelity, imagining a situation in which his partner discovered his infidelity. He wrote, "'Careless Whisper' was us dancing, because we danced a lot, and the idea was – we are dancing... but she knows... and it's finished."
Andrew Ridgeley came up with the chord sequence on his Fender Telecaster he had received for his 18th birthday. They continued to work together on the music and lyrics both at Michael's house in Radlett, and Shirlie Holliman aunt's basement flat in Peckham, where Ridgeley was living.
A more complete and fully realised second demo was recorded on 24 March 1982 at Halligan Band Centre, Holloway, London with a backing band and a saxophone riff. This second demo also included the songs "Club Tropicana" and "Wham Rap!". However, on the same day, Michael and Ridgeley were called over by Dean to sign a contract in addition to the record deal, which they did at a nearby greasy spoon café. Michael recalls of that day:
After the backing track and Michael's vocal had been recorded, Wexler had booked the top saxophone player from Los Angeles to fly in and do the solo. "He arrived at eleven and should have been gone by twelve", recalled Wham! manager Simon Napier-Bell. "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."
While the saxophonist appeared to be playing the part perfectly, Michael told him, "No, it's still not right, you see..." and he would lower his head to the talkback microphone and patiently hum the part to him yet again. "It has to twitch upwards a little just there! See...? And not too much."
Napier-Bell consulted with Wexler over Michael's dispute with the sax sound. "Is there really something George wants that's different from what the sax player is playing?" Napier-Bell asked. "Definitely!" replied Wexler.
The version Wexler produced was released later in the year, as a (4:41) B-side "special version" on 12″ in the UK and Japan.
The record label Innervision was going to put out the Wexler version of "Careless Whisper" after the "Club Fantastic Megamix" as early as 1983. Song publisher Dick Leahy said that while he could not stop the release of the "Club Fantastic Megamix", he could stop the release of "Careless Whisper" on the basis that as a publisher they "have the right to grant the first license of the recording of a tune of which he controls the copyright". He said: "We knew how big that song could be, so it was necessary to upset a few people to stop it." Towards the end of 1983, Michael was also committed to touring with Wham! to promote Fantastic, so according to him it would not have made sense to release "Careless Whisper" as a solo single in the middle of the tour, despite it being part of the setlist.
Michael later went back to London's Sarm Studios to re-record the track, the backbone of which was done with a live rhythm section in one take, with "loads of stuff bunged on overdubbed later" as Michael added, although the feel of it was basically live.
Michael elaborated on the song's production and how it turned out in the end:
After hiring and firing several other sax players, for which the BBC characterized as struggling to play all the notes with "the right amount of fluidity and still breathe," Michael eventually heard what he was looking for from Steve Gregory. During an interview with DJ Danny Sun, Gregory said he was the ninth saxophone player to attempt the riff. He said Michael's secretary had phoned him up midday and asked him to give the solo a try.
Gregory showed up to the studio around midnight to find Ray Warleigh, an experienced Australian session musician, waiting his turn to try his attempt at the solo. But Michael had left Warleigh waiting for him for so long that he had decided to give up his spot to Gregory. Gregory met with producer Chris Porter and listened to the earlier saxophone recording performed by Tom Scott on the Jerry Wexler production. After realizing he had some limitations in playing the notes written in the music (his saxophone was missing its highest note, an F-sharp), Gregory came up with a creative solution to record the song in a lower key and then raise the pitch in post-production.
The officially released single was issued in July 1984, entering the UK Singles Chart at number 12. Within two weeks it was at number one, ending a nine-week run at the top for "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It stayed at number one for three weeks, going on to become the fifth best-selling single of 1984 in the United Kingdom; outsold only by the two Frankie Goes to Hollywood tracks, "Two Tribes" and "Relax", Stevie Wonder with "I Just Called to Say I Love You", and Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?". The song also topped the charts in 25 other countries, including the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in February 1985 under the credit "Wham! featuring George Michael". Spending three weeks at the top in America, the song was later named Billboards number-one song of 1985.
Despite its success, Michael stated repeatedly in interviews that he was not fond of the song. He said in 1991 that it "was not an integral part of my emotional development ... 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. That's disillusioning for a writer."
Cash Box said the song illustrates Wham!'s "versatility and range" when compared to the previous single "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", calling this song "soft, beguiling and memorable" and saying that it features "a highly romantic instrumental arrangement as well as an extremely well-written melody and lyric". Amy Hanson of AllMusic described the song as "perfect for dance floor canoodling", stating, "built around a simmering Latin music-lite tempo, sultry sax and Michael's own impassioned delivery, 'Careless Whisper' touched fans and passive listeners alike to become one of, if not the only, of 1985".
A first original version of the video was edited with the Jerry Wexler 1983 version, and featured Ridgeley as a cameo, handing over a letter to a dark-haired Michael. This version had a more detailed storyline but was re-edited later. Careless Whispers: The Life & Career of George Michael: Revised & Updated By Robert Steele
According to producer Jon Roseman, production of the video was "a fucking disaster". According to Michael's co-star Lisa Stahl, "They lost footage of our kissing scene so we had to reshoot it, which I didn't complain about ... Then George decided he didn't like his hair so he flew his sister over from England to cut it and we had to reshoot more scenes."Q magazine, June 2009
As the band felt they had "screwed up" the video, further footage of Michael singing the song onstage was later shot at the Lyceum Theatre, London.I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution by Rob Tannenbaum, Craig Marks
The video performance (1984 version) was officially uploaded to the George Michael YouTube channel on 24 October 2009. As of October 2024, the video had surpassed 1.3 billion views.
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