She Wants To Dance With Me

Album: Hold Me In Your Arms (1988)
Charted: 6 6
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Songfacts®:

  • In this jaunty pop tune, Rick Astley is overjoyed because the girl he's been waiting to see wants to dance with him. Why? Because he lets her be what she wants to be. Completely free of subtext or innuendo, it was released as the first single from his sophomore album, Hold Me In Your Arms.
  • Like the tracks on Astley's mega-successful debut album (the one with "Never Gonna Give You Up"), this was produced by the hitmaking team of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman (Stock-Aitken-Waterman). They also wrote Astley's previous, but this was he composed himself. He wrote four songs on his first album, but "She Wants To Dance With Me" marked the first time one of his self-written songs was released as a single. When it hit, it gave him a big boost of confidence; he left Stock-Aitken-Waterman on his next album, Free, which included another hit song he wrote, "Cry For Help."

    "The first single I had was called 'She Wants To Dance With Me,' and that was a bit of a hit in America and different parts of the world," Astley told Songfacts. "That was a bit of a turning point in my mind because I thought, as simple as that song is - because it is fairly simple - it worked."
  • Astley performed this at the American Music Awards in 1989, where he was nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist (he lost to Tracy Chapman).
  • Phil Todd played the saxophone solo on this track. Ian Curnow handled keyboards and synths; Robert Ahwai played guitar.
  • In the UK, this was the fifth of Astley's record first eight singles to reach the Top 10.

Comments: 6

  • Bob from GaWho is the beautiful blond lady singing backup and dancing to Rick astley in video she wants to dance with me
  • Horacio from Argentinawho are the 3 girls that dance in the video, especially the blonde with long hair?
  • Lindy Hop from UsaWho is the blonde backup singer in the video for "She wants to dance with me?"
  • AnonymousWhat is the name of the girl who plays the waitress in this video?
  • Johnny from Westpoint,ms.Who is the beautiful blond lady singing backup and dancing to Rick astley in video she wants to dance with me
  • Marc D from CanadaWho is the girl singing with Rick in the video? She looks like (and is dressed like) Debbie Gibson but it's not her.
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