Page Index
Song Details
- Song – Careless Whisper
- Singer(s) – George Michael
- Released – 24 July 1984
- Songwriter(s) – George Michael & Andrew Ridgeley
- Producer(s) – George Michael & Jerry Wexler
“Careless Whisper” is a song by George Michael, an English singer. It was written by Michael and Andrew Ridgeley of Wham! and published on the Wham! Album Make It Big on July 24, 1984.
Since its first release, the song has been covered by a variety of musicians and has a prominent saxophone riff. It was published as a single and became a worldwide commercial hit. It went to number one in nearly 25 countries, selling about 6 million copies globally, including 2 million in the US.
“Careless Whisper” Song Lyrics
[Intro]
Time can never mend
The careless whispers
Of a good friend
To the heart and mind
Ignorance is kind
There’s no comfort in the truth
Pain is all that you’ll find
Should’ve known better, yeah
[Instrumental]
[Verse 1]
I feel so unsure
As I take your hand
And lead you to the dance floor
As the music dies
Something in your eyes
Calls to mind a silver screen
And all its sad goodbyes
[Chorus]
I’m never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it’s easy to pretend
I know you’re not a fool
Should’ve known better than to cheat a friend
And waste a chance that I’ve been given
So I’m never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you
[Verse 2]
Time can never mend
The careless whispers
Of a good friend
To the heart and mind
Ignorance is kind
There’s no comfort in the truth
Pain is all that you’ll find
[Chorus]
I’m never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it’s easy to pretend
I know you’re not a fool
Should’ve known better than to cheat a friend
And waste a chance that I’ve been given
So I’m never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you
[Post-Chorus]
Never without your love
[Bridge]
Tonight the music seems so loud
I wish that we could lose this crowd
Maybe it’s better this way
We’d hurt each other with the things we want to say
We could have been so good together
We could have lived this dance forever
But now who’s gonna dance with me?
Please stay
[Chorus]
And I’m never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it’s easy to pretend
I know you’re not a fool
Should’ve known better than to cheat a friend
And waste a chance that I’ve been given
So I’m never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you
[Outro]
(Now that you’re gone)
Now that you’re gone
(Now that you’re gone)
Was what I did so wrong, so wrong
That you had to leave me alone?
Meaning of “Careless Whisper”
George Michael was dismissive of any personal significance, admitting some grief that his seemingly innocuous reason for the song had elicited such a powerful response from so many people.
In the song’s narrative premise, a cheating partner dances with (his) cheated upon sweetheart for the last time. The cheater’s capacity to adequately convey regret to the lover appears to be hampered by the dance room’s public nature. It may have also prompted the lover’s discovery of the adultery in the first place – the titular ‘careless whisper.’ The cheat fluctuates between many feelings, certainty, and uncertainty as the song develops but resolves in the chorus that after this dance, there will be no more – because (he) will be alone.
The song’s ingenuity is that the events in the ballad mimic the act of dancing to a romantic ballad that is playing at the end of a social gathering of ‘friends,’ which is precisely the kind of occasion we may be hearing; this song at!
George Michael
George Michael was an English singer and composer who was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963 and died on December 25, 2016. He is a leading creative force in music production, songwriting, vocal performance, and visual presentation.
Michael rose to stardom as a member of Wham! and later as a solo artist. Wham!’s first two albums, Fantastic (1983) and Make It Big (1984), topped the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and “Last Christmas” hit. Wham! established themselves as a global act by touring China in April 1985; it was the first visit to China by a Western popular music act.
Michael’s debut solo single, “Careless Whisper,” topped the charts in 20 countries, including the UK and US. Michael released “A Different Corner” and the Aretha Franklin duet “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” before producing his debut solo album. Faith, Michael’s 1987 solo debut, topped the UK Albums Chart and the Billboard 200 for 12 weeks. Four singles from the album topped the Billboard Hot 100: “Faith,” “Father Figure,” “One More Try,” and “Monkey.”
Michael was 1988’s best-selling artist, while Faith was 1989’s Album of the Year. Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (1990) sold 8 million records and was a UK number-one. It includes “Praying for Time” and “Freedom! ’90.” “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” was a transatlantic number one in 1991. Michael released two additional million-selling albums, Older (1996) and Patience (2004).
Michael was an LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser. His personal life, drug use, and legal difficulties made headlines in the late 1990s and 2000s. He was arrested for public lewdness in 1998 and other drug-related offenses afterward. Michael was gay by 1998. A Different Story chronicled his work and personal life. Michael’s 25 Live tours extended from 2006 to 2008. Michael slipped into a coma in 2011 from pneumonia but recovered. His farewell concert was in 2012 at London’s Earls Court. Michael died of heart illness in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, on December 25, 2016.
