TheJanzapTheJanzap 9311 silver badge66 bronze badges 2 I'm not sure I understand. Performing artists often record and release songs written by others, or co-written by themselves with others. Whether the performer of a given recording is "Wham!
During an interview with DJ Danny Sun, Gregory said he was the 9th sax player to attempt the riff. Gregory said Michael's secretary had phoned him up midday and asked him to give the solo a try.[32][better source needed]
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.
"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.
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?
Although you and I can’t hear what it is, it may be the very thing that will make the record a hit. The success of pop records is so ephemeral, so unbelievably unpredictable, we just can’t take the risk of being impatient. But this sax player's not going to get it, is he!"
Steve waited and then discovered that the solo wasn’t that easy to play in the written key, as his old Selmer Mark VI tenor didn’t have a top F# key. So, the engineer slowed the tape down so that Steve could record the solo a semitone lower than intended.
Michael observed that after he stopped wearing glasses, he began getting invited to parties. "And the girl who didn't even see me when I was twelve invited me in," he noted.
The song is a ballad about guilt and regret, centered on a romantic betrayal. In the lyrics, the narrator confesses to having an affair and expresses deep remorse for the hurt caused, realizing that the relationship is damaged beyond repair.
The saxophone riff, played by Steve Gregory, became one of the most recognizable and beloved parts of the song, adding a haunting, melancholic feel to the track.
Jazz musician Dan Forshaw later revealed that saxophonist Steve Gregory had got a call to re-record the song's sax solo, and he was the 11th saxophone player to record the solo as George wanted to get the sound he hoped for.
"One of the most incredible moments of my life was hearing 'Careless Whisper' demoed properly, with a band, a sax and everything. It was ironic that we signed the contract with Mark [Dean] that day, the day I finally believed we had number-one material.
"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."[25]
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"I’m not sure that I’ll go, but I may do." — Why does "may do" sound unnatural here in American English?