Actors - Let's Dance

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	Actors - Let's Dance

"Let’s Dance" is the title album track on David Bowie's album Let's Dance
. It was also released as the first single from that album in 1983, and went on to become one of his biggest-selling tracks.

Heavily influenced by producer Nile Rodgers’ work with his band CHIC, “Let’s Dance features a thumping bassline, combined with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s guitar playing, “Let’s Dance” was arguably Bowie’s most commercial record up to that point. While the lyrics are ostensibly just those of a dance song, there is some discord struck by lines such as “Let’s dance, for fear tonight is all”. The 7:38 album version was heavily edited for single release, though the 12” single retained the full length.

This loneliness and desperation seeps into the film clip, made with David Mallet on location in Australia, which features Bowie watching an Aboriginal couple’s struggles against metaphors of Western cultural imperialism impassively while playing with his band.

The single was Bowie’s fastest selling to date, entering the UK singles chart at #5 on its’ first week of release, and deposing Duran Duran’s “Is There Something I Should Know?” the following week, staying at the top of the charts for another fortnight. Soon afterwards, the single would top the Billboard Hot 100, Bowie’s first single to reach #1 on both sides of the Atlantic.

“Let’s Dance” would turn Bowie’s public profile from “weird art rocker” to “global megastar” almost overnight. The track was a regular on the Serious Moonlight Tour (the name derived from a lyric in “Let’s Dance”), the 1988 Glass Spider Tour and the 1990 Sound + Vision Tour, and was then reworked for the 2000 tour.

In 1998, Puff Daddy would release a single called "Been Around the World", which contained a slowed down sample of "Let's Dance".

Track listing

7” version: -

# "Let’s Dance" (Bowie) – 4:07 # "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" (Bowie, Moroder) – 5:09

12” version: -

# "Let’s Dance" (Bowie) – 7:38 # "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” (Bowie, Moroder) – 5:09

Production credits

Producers:
* Nile Rodgers

Musicians:
* David Bowie
: Vocals
* Stevie Ray Vaughan: Guitar
* Nile Rodgers: Guitar
* Carmine Rojas: Bass
* Omar Hakim, Tony Thompson: Drums
* Rob Sabino: Keyboards
* Mac Gollehon: Trumpet
* Robert Aaron, Stan Harrison, Steve Elson: Saxophone
* Sam Figueroa: Percussion

Other releases

It appeared on the following compilations:
* ChangesBowie (1990)
* Bowie: The Singles 1969-1993 (1993)
* The Singles Collection (1993)

Cover versions

CHIC - CHIC Freak and More Treats
Dokkumer Lokaatsje
Angéle Dubeau
E-Male - Single
The Heroes - Access All Areas (1999)
Kex - 12-inch single (1983)
Overdose - Ashes to Ashes: A Tribute to David Bowie (1998)
La Pieta - Let's Dance (1999)
The Rockridge Synthesiser Orchestra - Plays David Bowie Classic Trax
Tina Turner - Tina Live in Europe (duet with David Bowie) (1988)

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