China Girl (song)
| "China Girl" | ||||||||||
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| Single by David Bowie | ||||||||||
| from the album Let's Dance | ||||||||||
| B-side | "Shake It" | |||||||||
| Released | May 1983 | |||||||||
| Format | 7"/12" single | |||||||||
| Recorded | Power Station, New York, December 1982 | |||||||||
| Genre | Rock, pop, dance | |||||||||
| Length | 5:32 (album version) 4:14 (single edit) |
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| Label | EMI America Records EA157 |
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| Writer(s) | David Bowie, Iggy Pop | |||||||||
| Producer | Nile Rodgers | |||||||||
| David Bowie singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"China Girl" is a song co-written by David Bowie and Iggy Pop during their years in Berlin, first appearing on Pop's album The Idiot (1977). It was more widely popularized when it was rerecorded and released by Bowie on his album Let's Dance (1983).
The UK single release reached #2 for one week on June 14, 1983, being kept off the top position by "Every Breath You Take" by The Police. The US release reached #10.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing (Bowie remake)
[edit] 7": EMI America / EA 157 (UK)
- "China Girl [Edit]" (Bowie, Pop) – 4:14
- "Shake It" (Bowie) – 3:49
[edit] 12": EMI America 75038 / 12EA 157 (UK)
- "China Girl" (Bowie, Pop) – 5:32
- "Shake It [Re-Mix]" (Bowie) – 5:21
- On the US 12", "Shake It" is called the "Long Version," although it's identical to the UK's "Re-Mix"
- The UK 12" single's cover was slightly different from the US cover (they're mirrors of each other), and the flip side of the UK 12" includes dates for the 1983 Serious Moonlight Tour in the UK (specifically the London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and Milton Keynes shows).
[edit] Music video (Bowie remake)
The music video was directed by David Mallet and is shot mainly in the Chinatown district of Sydney, Australia. Alongside Bowie, New Zealand model Geeling Ng starred in the video, which Bowie described as a "very simple, very direct" statement against racism (alongside his previous single's video for "Let's Dance").[1] The original video release includes the two lying naked in the surf (a visual reference to the film From Here to Eternity), though versions of the video included on subsequent video and DVD compilations are slightly censored to remove the nudity. The original video went on to win an MTV video award for Best Male Video.[2]
[edit] Live performances
The song was a regular for Bowie's live shows for the rest of the 1980s (appearing on concert videos in 1983 and 1988 as Serious Moonlight and Glass Spider, respectively). It was rehearsed for his appearance at the 1985 London Live Aid concert but along with the songs "Fascination" and "Five Years" was eventually dropped due to time constraints. Additional live versions of the song appear on 2009's release of a 1999 performance for VH1 Storytellers and a 2010 release of Bowie's 2003 concert, entitled A Reality Tour.
[edit] Chart performance (Bowie remake)
| Chart (1983) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 15 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 2 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 2 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 5 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 2 |
| German Singles Chart | 6 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 7 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 5 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 1 |
| U.K. Singles Chart | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 10 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play (charted together with "Shake It") |
51 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 3 |
[edit] Production credits (Pop original)
[edit] Musicians
- Iggy Pop – vocals
- David Bowie – keyboards, synthesizer, guitar, piano, saxophone, xylophone, backing vocals
- Carlos Alomar – guitar
- Dennis Davis – drums
- George Murray – bass
- Phil Palmer – guitar
- Michel Santangeli – drums
- Laurent Thibault – bass
[edit] Production credits (Bowie remake)
[edit] Producer
[edit] 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
[edit] Other releases
- It appeared on the following compilations:
- Changesbowie (1990)
- Bowie: The Singles 1969-1993 (1993)
- The Singles Collection (1993)
- Best of Bowie (2002)
- The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987 (2007)
- The soundtrack for the film The Wedding Singer featured "China Girl".
- The original Iggy Pop version is included in Pop's compilation A Million in Prizes: The Anthology.
[edit] Cover versions
- Nick Cave - Live recording in Melbourne, 1978.
- James - Single (1998)
- Ziggy Stardust - Ashes to Ashes: A Tribute to David Bowie (1998)[citation needed]
- Trance To The Sun -Goth Oddity: A Tribute to David Bowie (1999)
- Anna Ternheim - Shoreline EP (2005)
- Voltaire - Zombie Prostitute... (2006), and on .2 Contamination: A Tribute to David Bowie (2006)
- Pete Yorn - Musicforthemorningafter (Bonus CD) (2001)
- Johny Dey - Hero: The Main Man Records Tribute to David Bowie (2007)
- The Tragically Hip - During "New Orleans is Sinking" on Live Between Us a verse of "China Girl" is sung.
- Scars on Broadway - Live with altered lyrics[citation needed]
- System of a Down - Live with altered lyrics[citation needed]
- The White Stripes - Live[citation needed]
- Alejandro Sokol - Live[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Loder, Kurt (12 May 1983), "Straight Time", Rolling Stone magazine (395): 22-28,81
- ^ China Girl: David Bowie: VMA Playlist: All-Time Best Male Videos, MTV, http://www.mtv.com/videos/david-bowie/99016/china-girl.jhtml, retrieved November 30, 2010
- Pegg, Nicholas, The Complete David Bowie, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-14-5
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